CHARLIE HICKEY - Nervous At Night

Born into a musical family, as a child Charlie Hickey would obsessively watch videos of his parents on tour in their old band Uma, learning all the lyrics that he loved but didnÆt understand. This introduction to music sowed a seed, and Hickey was soon writing songs of his own, playing on the guitars that lay around him and singing about the little details of his school days. He continued throughout his teen years, his songs becoming an outlet for the growing anxieties that Hickey now understands to be Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This journey has led to Nervous At Night, HickeyÆs debut album which releases in the early Summer of 2022 via Phoebe BridgersÆ Saddest Factory Records. Where 2021Æs Count The Stairs EP was an attempt to capture the rawness of his performance, Nervous At Night comes alive within its production, Hickey and producer Marshall Vore leaning into their perfectionist endencies to find the best version of each track. ôHeÆs always interested in how you can push things further but also reigns them in when necessary,ö Hickey says. ôI think thatÆs the true hallmark of a good producer.ö Hickey calls it a pop record but admits that sonically it moves in many directions, an amalgamation of his love for the folk singers of yesteryear and more contemporary peers, from Taylor Swift and The 1975 to the Californian songwriter and producer Blake Mills. This shifting of styles û from the albumÆs quiet heavy-hearted ballads to its more gleaming, hookled tracks - mirrors its overarching theme: lifeÆs graceless passage between teenage years and adulthood. And so we have æPlanet With WaterÆ, a plaintive love song that bristles with nostalgia, Hickey singing of phone calls after school, of hearing a neighborÆs TV through the wall. Elsewhere æMid AirÆ holds a similar weight, Hickey singing of ôspinning in mid-air, waiting for somewhere to land, or some face to show upö as the song flourishes around his voice, delicately accompanied by guest turns from fellow LA musicians Harrison Whitford, Christian Lee Hutson and Mason Stoops. Nervous At Night comes alive in its juxtapositions, chronicling the constant push and pull of life, both its stagnancy and motion. Chiefly though, this is an album about connection, how even through those struggles we rely on the people around us to keep moving forwards. ôIÆd like to write songs that are for everyone, that let people into my inner world while also hopefully making people feel less alone on their own. I hope that these songs can be there for somebody the way my favorite songs have been for me.ö

Vinyl release of Charlie Hickey - Nervous At Night. Released through Saddest Factory and available on LP.