1 week ago
16
“It’s kind of like the absence of an ethos. In a way it’s giving up and being overwhelmed, saying that I’m not asking any more questions because I’ve given up on answers,” Santiago Castillo, the man behind the electronic project Hockitay, tells BEST FIT down the phone from across the Atlantic in Montreal. The subtle laughter in his voice hides a more severe meaning, one that he is explaining and one that he beautifully elucidates through the track in question, “over/over”. “It fits into maybe a sort of disillusionment with the state of society”, he continues. “Not in a doomer, nihilistic way, but in a more playful way, in a ‘maybe there is a corner of hope left kind-of-a-way.’”
The track “over-over” explores themes of isolation and retreat from the relentlessly throbbing world. Following a slow, disruptive groove upon which plucked chords of guitar, shards of synthesiser and mournful vocals are hung, a linear rhythm charts a course along, ignoring the noise of the world around in which it has no choice to exist. Castillo’s voice breaks over the electronics that introduce the piece with the delicately crooned, almost hunkered down, line “I’m not asking / I’m not asking any more questions”. The lyric, he explains, is less a loss of engagement and more an expression of frustration: “It’s hard to feel like you have an opinion when everything is so black and white, but that doesn’t reflect reality I guess.”
This expression of desire to escape into oneself is apparent through all elements of the piece. Visual accompaniment is a fundamental element both to the performance and creation of Castillo's music: “I think certain moods come up in visuals that can inspire the music, sometimes seeing movies can inspire a feeling I want to evoke.”
Along with cinema, the long winter months in Montreal have sept into the sound of the song. “This song is more so for winter, I’m feeling the winter.” The containment from elements both natural and digital carries through: “I always like to think of someone listening to my music on the bus, on a long commute. Either on the metro or the bus is where I listen to a lot of my favourite music.” The slow and steady kick drum buried under the synths does a fair impression of bus wheels churning slowly along frozen ground.
Movement, though perhaps not speed, is a crucial element of the song. “It is a balance that I’m always looking for, to keep the music engaging and valuable second by second whilst having it be something you can tune in and out of,” says Castillo. Some of the artists he lists as Hockiday influences perform a similar role on a long, isolated journey: James Blake, Sampha, King Krule and Bon Iver.
Castillo applies a collage-style method to creating both his music and the accompanying visuals: “Writing lyrics is pretty separate from the music. I always write for the sake of writing and I make music for the sake of making music and then I fit the puzzle pieces together.” This method is exemplified in the writing of the lines “I haven't had an opinion since high school / I wear the jersey but I’ve never seen them play.” Castillo explains, “I wrote those words down after I pulled on a jersey I hadn’t worn for years, and at some point after making the instrumental for that song it fit into whatever else I was singing.”
“There’s a certain type of music that doesn’t ask for too much of your attention, so that it’s bothersome but isn’t boring as it doesn’t have enough substance. That’s kind of like a balance I’m trying to find.” It is a delicate equilibrium that Castillo has sought out on “over-over”. Too delicate and the work would risk sounding passive. But such a mistake has not been made and the future of Hockiday is an exciting one to imagine. “I think that it’s fine to break the rules and step out of the box a bit. I think if it came up in the right way I’d love to do something longer.” For the moment songs like “over-over” are remaining concise, but within that concision lies an expansive sound that will surely grow even greater.
English (US) · 