Hrishikesh Hirway Unveils New Song 'Cascade'

Acclaimed musician and Song Exploder host/creator Hrishikesh Hirway debuts a new song, "Cascade."

The track, produced by Hirway and mixed by Mikaelin 'Blue' Bluespruce (Solange, Blood Orange, tUnE-yArDs), premieres alongside a video illustrated and animated by Maf López, an homage to a family's legacy, stretched across four generations-watch/share here. The song features backing vocals by Kristin Slipp (Dirty Projectors, mmeadows) and horns by Cole Kamen-Green (Beyoncé, Lorde, mmeadows).

Of the new song, Hirway says:

"'Cascade' is a song about family, and time, and being connected to people who came before us and will come after us. It's a story about my grandmother, as a young woman in India, having a vision of her great-granddaughter, who wouldn't be born until a decade after my grandmother passed away. She dreams of this little girl and feels a profound connection to her, and in her dream, sings her this lullaby. That story is being told to that great-granddaughter in the present.

I don't have children myself, and I think about that decision a lot these days, and the things I may be missing out on. I've decided it's not for me, but as an uncle, watching my niece grow up, I think about the history that she carries around with her, without being aware of it. Writing this song was a way for me to connect to this past, present, and future that exists simultaneously in these generations of women in my family, across 90 years and two continents.

My friends Kristin Slipp and Cole Kamen-Green of the band mmeadows helped me write this song over a few days this fall and perform on it as well. While I was writing, when I got stuck at one point, I reached out to my friend and frequent collaborator, Jenny Owen Youngs, who helped me get unstuck, as she often does."

In 2012, after making several albums as The One AM Radio, Hirway went through a years-long period of writer's block. During that time, he created Song Exploder, an award-winning podcast about the creative process, which was adapted into a Netflix documentary series in 2020. He's the host of the podcast and the Netflix series.

His writer's block ended when vocalist and songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs reached out to Hirway about co-writing a song with her. They wrote one song together, and then another. They've written several songs together now, for each of their individual projects, and the two toured together last year as co-headliners on a double bill, sharing the stage and performing their respective songs as a duo.

Hrishikesh Hirway has been producing music for over two decades; first with his project The One AM Radio, and later with MOORS, a collaboration with Oscar-nominated rapper/actor Lakeith Stanfield. As a composer, his credits include the Netflix original series Everything Sucks!, the theme for ESPN's 30 for 30 podcast and the theme for the Song Exploder series on Netflix.

Hirway launched the award-winning podcast Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and tell the stories behind their inspiration and creative process, in 2014. Since then, the podcast has been streamed and downloaded over 65 million times, and has featured guests including Fleetwood Mac, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Solange, U2, Madonna, Haim, Metallica, Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Roots and many more.

Hirway recently voiced a character in the television show Bob's Burgers, and in the DC Comics / Spotify original podcast Harley Quinn & the Joker. Besides Song Exploder, Hirway produced and co-hosted the award-winning podcasts Home Cooking with Samin Nosrat, and The West Wing Weekly with Joshua Malina, all of which are on the Radiotopia podcast network. He's also the host and creator of the Partners podcast.

Fast Company named Hirway one of 2021's Most Creative People in Business, and Adweek named him one of 2022's Creative 100, as an "innovator reshaping the media landscape." His TED Talk, "What You Discover When You Really Listen," has been viewed over three million times.

Watch the new music video here:

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