If you've spent any amount of time around ambient, post-rock, and adjacent genres in the last 20 years, it's very likely that you've heard the music of Hammock, a Nashville based duo consisting of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson. To describe their music is pretty difficult. The two of them have added varying degrees of instrumentation on top of their guitar playing over the years, ranging from the most minimal - just the two of them, playing hushed drones alongside cello and voice - all the way to the most maximal of arrangements, with full choirs, drums, and orchestra generating massive walls of sound.

The result is always spectacular, and it's hard to overstate the emotional impact of their songs. It's a stunning blend of beauty, sadness, and ache. The two seem to have an uncanny ability to find exactly the right way of tugging at your heart strings, probing the full range of human emotion through sound. I can personally attest to how powerfully their music can meet someone in both the peaks and valleys of life: their music has provided me comfort and inspiration for as long as I can remember, and they're a big reason why I'm making the music that I do.

I had the chance to sit down with Marc and ask him how he feels about the emotional impact that his music has on people who hear it. He reflected on this, and also opened up on a wide range of additional topics, both band-related and personal. I really hope you enjoy the conversation here, and take as much from his perspective as it offered to me.

Visit hammockmusic.com for more info on Hammock and their music.A full transcript of this interview can be found on the Sound Methods Substack page at https://andrewtasselmyer.substack.com

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