Announces debut solo album ‘Starting Not To Hurt’ due out 02/04, as Him Horrison synthy psych-pop. RIYL: Brian Jonestown Massacre, jonatan leandoer96, Mazzy Star, Elias Rønnenfelt.

Deedee, the mononymous vocalist of everyone’s favorite cyber punk upstarts, MSPAINT, has announced their debut solo album as Him Horrison. Arriving February 4th, it is a collection of synth-tinged psych pop that’s as immersive as it is emotional. He might be a new to most listeners but the project began gestating a decade ago with scattered releases intended to focus on spur of the moment, intuitive songwriting. Album finds Deedee drawing some songs from that vast yet largely unheard back catalog, as well as new material, and coalescing all of it into Him Horrison‘s first proper album. The record is a statement of artistic intent that’s as original as you’d would expect from one of the most truly singular voices in modern punk music. The mark the announcement he has shared record’s sparkling opener, ‘Crystalized’. The track is the perfect introduction to the record and the project as a whole, a sweeping cut of cinematic dream pop that sounds like Mazzy Star and Yung Lean writing the theme to a James Bond movie in 2099. Full lenght was recorded by Deedee at their home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on a Tascam digital 8-track, then further produced and mixed by MSPAINT synth mastermind Nick Panella, and finally mastered by Mathew Thomasi. The result is an album of otherworldly music that fluidly merges the sci-fi soundscapes with psychedelic folk into something all together new. “I wanted to revisit Him Horrison after some years of not feeling attached to it” Deedee explains. “The earlier version of the project was me recording everything on my own and then sometimes have ten-plus members on stage and we’d all party real hard. I don’t live that lifestyle anymore and it made me feel distant from the music, so I made this album as a way to reconnect with the songs and the singularity of making them. I felt like the project grew into the new person I’ve become.” That personal and musical growth feels palpable on songs like ‘Heal Me’ or ‘Sound Of Trees’ darkly brooding but strongly hopeful songs that submerge the listener in equal parts icy keyboards and warm acoustic guitars. “It used to be painful to revisit Him Horrison because the music would remind me of times I was less proud of how I’d carried myself” Deedee says, “but after making this album and putting more work into it than any other release for the project, it felt like the pain reflected the growth in a way I didn’t appreciate until I engaged with the feelings more.”

‘Starting Not To Hurt’ tracklist:
1. Crystalized
2. Sound Of Trees
3. If I Could
4. Boring
5. Fall Off
6. Heal Me
7. Fire In Your Head
8. Tell A Lie
9. Just Stay
10. Dies From Sadness

Upcoming Shows:
02/07 Hattiesburg, MS @ Fatcat w/ Glitterer

photo credit: Robert Swann