Vancouver-Based Artist Holy Hum Premieres New Single 'White Buzz'

Holy Hum, aka Vancouver-based artist Andrew Lee, has premiered a new single, "White Buzz", today via IMPOSE - share via YouTube - a first taste of his debut full-length album, due out Fall 2017. "White Buzz" is Holy Hum's first new material since 2015's 7" single "Appendix A+B" on the Kingfisher Bluez label (Xiu Xiu, Dirty Beaches, Allison Crutchfield), and the hour-long "Appendix C".

"White Buzz" was the first song Lee wrote for his debut album, shortly after the passing of his father. Lee had spent a month by his father's side in the hospital blinded by the intense white light of fluorescents and the constant buzz of life support machines. The first two stanzas deal with loss: letting go and giving it away. The final two stanzas are about sacrifice. Lee's father was an opera singer, and the ending of "White Buzz" is an improvised attempt by Lee to sing like his father.

"White Buzz" was recorded at Phil Elverum's studio "The Unknown" in Anacortes, Washington, entirely live off the floor, save for a few overdubs and vocals. The longest track on Holy Hum's debut record, Lee laid down the improvised frenetic guitar solo first and wrote the rest of the song based around it. A fan of Mount Eerie, Lee asked Anacortes resident, Allyson Foster, who provided vocals on Wind's Poem, Clear Moon, and Ocean Roar, to provide backing vocals on the track. She obliged.

In regards to "White Buzz", Lee stated, "Whenever I think back at that time, my mind generates that buzz and my eyes adjust to the light." Details on Holy Hum's debut record will arrive in the coming weeks.

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