Written by Madison Boyce
One year ago this week, the alternative-rock music scene was blessed with another flawless record. On April 17th, 2020, Richmond Virginia's House & Home released their debut full-length record titled “Find Sense. Feel Love. Make Light.”
“Tempest” opens up the record with a clearly rock-influenced sound, gritty and fast-paced as can be. The familiarity is balanced with the band's own unique touches.
The second single “Heatseeker” was accompanied by two huge pieces of news; the band announced that they would be releasing their first album and that they had signed to Open Your Ears Records. This track introduced countless new fans to House & Home and still remains a favorite for many.
As the lead single for their debut record, “Wander” set a high standard for the rest of the tracks to follow. The track is as rough and as raw as its predecessors but more mature lyrically, with vulnerable lines like “I don't ever want to turn into a person I don't understand / I've seen it happen to people I'm close to / Their demons got the upper hand” showing the band's progression since their 2018 release of “Fully Grown.”
Within the record, we are provided with three separate songs that, when combined, create a titular track of sorts. “Find Sense.” is the first of those, opening with quieter guitars and strong vocals.
One thing that always stands out in any House & Home track is the insanely impressive vocal delivery. Huge amounts of passion are present in every song, but especially in this one.
Exactly halfway through “Find Sense. Feel Love. Make Light.” is the aggressive “Shrunken Head.” This is an “in-your-face” track, showing off a different side of the band.
Continuing with the title track trilogy is “Feel Love.”, which explores the feeling of seeing someone you love struggle. The band does a perfect job of throwing you into what the narrator is feeling.
While “Feel Love.” is a slower, more emotional song, “Burn” picks things up again immediately, bringing back their unique rock sound. Matt Stumpf's drumming expertise is on full display here, truly making the track that much more amazing.
Though House & Home is known for their rougher songs, “Pocket Knife” shows that they aren't afraid to change it up a bit. Despite it being slowed down, it fits perfectly in the context of the rest of the record.
Closing out the series of songs including the album's title is “Make Light.” Vocalist Patrick Williams sings, “For years I stayed asleep and now I try / To find sense, feel love, make light”, tying everything together in a satisfying full-circle moment.
“Make Light.” flows perfectly into “Cathedral,” which finishes the record with a bang. This track feels like a resolution in some ways.
Lyrically, it's all about making the most of what you have, because, at the end of the day, you only get one life to live. After the emotional journey that the narrator and listener have taken together, “I could cut my hair, I could contort my face / But this body and mind are still all I’ve got / And I’m not done with them yet, I’m not done yet.” make for the perfect closing lines for this record.
To celebrate the one year anniversary of “Find Sense. Feel Love. Make Light.”, we were able to sit down with frontman Patrick Williams. We discussed anything and everything about the album, from writing and inspiration to creative choices and reception.
“Find Sense. Feel Love. Make Light.” is House & Home’s debut album. How would you say the fan response has been to a full-length record compared to just an EP?
A full-length is a completely different animal in a lot of ways we did not expect. We knew this album was going to be the thing that represented and defined our band in a huge way...what we didn’t see coming is how everybody sort of embraced the direction we were going.
The reaction to the EP was great, and when we put out “Wander”, we saw the potential our songs had when we took a creative leap, so we tried to just go for it creatively on every song and the reaction was more than we could have ever asked for. It’s been absolutely incredible.
Opening up “Find Sense. Feel Love. Make Light.” is “Tempest.” What made you start the record with this song? Any reasoning behind it?
We just wanted something that hit hard. The riff in that song has always been a favorite of ours, and it was written with the idea that it could end up being the opening song. The way the song builds on itself in the beginning was too perfect not to use as an introductory track.
What was your main source of inspiration on the next track, “Heatseeker?”
When we wrote “Heatseeker”, we were at a point where we racked up a lot of experiences that showed us really how brutal the music industry can be. We felt like we finally had a very realistic idea of what the road ahead looked like and what it was going to take to keep moving forward.
Instead of feeling discouraged because of that, it was like our determination was still there in a way more aggressive and fiery way. We’re hell-bent on doing this and doing it exactly how we want to, and that’s kind of the big idea behind that song.
Next up is “Wander,” which was the lead single. Did you always know this was going to be the first song that everyone heard off of the record? If not, how did it come to be?
“Wander” was like our coming-of-age, sort of. It was our first time working with Will Beasley, who ended up producing and recording the rest of the album, and it was a ridiculously eye-opening experience.
It was the first time we felt like a real band. It actually wasn’t even supposed to be on the album at all.
We were going to re-record some old songs and put them on instead, but we decided against it after realizing they just didn’t hold up next to the other songs. We decided to add “Wander” and write another song in-studio with Will, and I’m really glad we did.
“Find Sense.” is the first of three tracks that make up the title of the record. How did you come up with the idea to do that?
The title of the album is a line from “Make Light.” that had already been written. I’ll give [guitarist and vocalist] Joey [Grammer] the credit for the idea.
We were sitting on Nominee’s patio at like two in the morning in Austin, Texas on the last night of our tour with them, and we’d just shown them the rough mixes of the record. We were just hanging out talking about it and Joey came bursting through the screen door yelling about a really cool idea he had, and once he told us I think someone from Nominee said, “That’s so cool. You’d be dumb not to do that.”
How would you say “Shrunken Head” fits in with the rest of the record, sonically and lyrically?
We all love that song so much, it’s so much fun to play. It’s definitely one of the grungier, more aggressive songs on the record.
That was kind of the unspoken goal when we were writing it. Someone just started playing that riff, and it came together at practice one day.
I think it’s a really cool window into the more aggressive and angsty side of our songs. There’s no ear candy, there’s no fancy leads or anything, it’s just a huge-sounding rock song.
The lyrics are all about being on tour and being sleep deprived, hungry, broke, and on the way to a parking lot somewhere after playing to nobody, but knowing you’re never going to stop. It’s definitely a bold-faced look at one of the major themes of the record.
What was the writing process like for the next track, the hard-hitting “Feel Love.”?
This song is about my mom. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was about 13; she beat it and is about to beat it for a second time because she’s a total badass.
When it happened, I was too young to really understand the gravity of what was going on, I think. Looking back, I almost felt bad about how little I reacted; when the song was written, we had a couple of friends that had recently been diagnosed and it was terrifying.
While being scared for them, it was a retrospective wake-up call where I really realized, “Oh my God, I could’ve lost my mom.” That song was a way to go back and process all the emotions that I was too young to comprehend at the time.
If there's one song that encapsulates House & Home's sound, I definitely think that it's “Burn.” How would you say it fits in with the entirety of the record as well as your discography as a whole?
Very interesting you would say that! That’s actually the song that we wrote from the ground up in the studio...I don’t think we have any other songs that sound like “Burn”.
It was kind of an experiment for us creatively; we actually just picked a tempo and had Matt go and play drums to a metronome for like 30 minutes with no idea what the song was going to sound like. We picked beats he played that we liked and pieced together a structure, then wrote all the chord progressions and melodies to his parts.
The lyrics were inspired by the conversations about music we were having with Will at the time, and the crazy amount of Kurt Cobain documentaries I was watching. It was a really pure and natural collaboration of everyone just doing their thing.
Another one of my favorites is “Pocket Knife.” Can you take us through the process of how this one came to be?
That’s a stand-out song, for sure. We wrote it with the idea that it was going to be a sort of palate cleanser.
We’ve never written a softer song like that, and it was a real exercise in songwriting for us. We had to totally change our mindset.
Will really pushed us to do something different, and when we were worried we were straying too far away from our norm, he pushed us even further. We started with one riff and went through meticulously writing parts that complemented each other without overpowering any aspect of the song, layering with keys and auxiliary percussion and little nuances until it finally felt finished.
Personally, I’m super proud of this one, and I think it’s a real testament to everyone’s willingness to experiment in the studio. Also, shoutout to Ryan Walsh for helping us write the [ending].
The final line of “Make Light.” also serves as the title track for the record. Was this planned? Which came first, the lyric or the title?
The lyric came first! It was a riff that Joey had been sitting on for a really long time and had just never used.
We recorded it as a demo and just bounced it back and forth between the two of us. He would write a melody, then I’d fill it in with lyrics, the rest of the band would add parts and ideas about structure, and eventually, we took it to Will and he helped us run with it.
The vibe of the song really called for lyrics that hit home, and it was just natural that they ended up summing up the record really well. It just made perfect sense once everything was said and done.
Closing out the record is my favorite track on it, which is “Cathedral.” What was the creative process like for this song? How would you compare it to the rest of the record?
Again, props to Ryan Walsh for helping us out with the introductory riff for this one. It just felt so natural to have this be the fastest song on the record...its working title was actually “Fast One”.
This was another one that just kind of came together once we started working on it together. We decided to just keep it simple and make it a really fun, really catchy album-ender, and completely change the pace to finish it off.
The meaning behind the lyrics to this song could be another interview entirely, but I’m really proud of the vocals on this one. The “choir” gang vocal at the end of the song is one of my favorite moments of the entire album.
How would you say the cover art fits in with the LP as a whole?
We had Joe LoPresti (@EvilSisterArt on Instagram) do all the artwork for the album and both singles. There was something that I can’t quite describe about Joe’s style that really got our attention and felt so right as a representation of these songs.
We wanted to work with him before we even got into the studio to start tracking. Our goal with everyone who was a part of what eventually became this album was to make sure that everyone really and truly understood the creative direction it was going in.
Every draft of the artwork Joe sent to us showed he was really on the same page the entire time. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t tell everyone to go check out Joe’s band, The Insides, because they absolutely rip.
Looking back on this record one year later, what’s one thing you wish you could say to yourself back when you were first writing and recording it?
Trust the process! Writing and recording this album gave us some of the greatest memories of our entire lives, and was an incredibly rewarding experience.
We lived, ate, slept, and bled these songs for a month and a half, it’s all we thought about. While the hard work and long nights were more than worth it, there’s a lot of self-doubt and stress that comes with putting yourself out there with something like this.
We had no idea how it was going to turn out, what, if anything, it was going to do for us as a band, or if anyone would even like the songs. We worked with people we trusted and admired, put in the time, and really genuinely understood the vision behind what we were doing and the potential it had.
Because of all these things, the end result was a genuine and personal representation of who we were at the time. We could not be more proud of it.
Huge thanks to Patrick Williams of House & Home for taking the time to do this interview with us. "Find Sense. Feel Love. Make Light.", as well as the rest of the House & Home discography, is available to stream wherever you listen to music.
You can support the band by picking up some merch via Open Your Ears Records and following them on Twitter @HouseAndHomeRVA. Feel free to tweet us @lgndsoftmrw and let us know how you celebrated House & Home's debut album reaching the one-year-old milestone.
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