Hammock

About

Nashville duo Hammock, made up of guitarists Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, started out as a kind of creative escape, recording ambient experiments in a basement studio when both were burned out from more conventional music work. What they stumbled onto was something genuinely distinctive: sprawling, atmospheric soundscapes that pull from shoegaze, neoclassical, and electronic music, all without a single lyric getting in the way. Their 2005 debut Kenotic set the tone, and a year later their music reached a massive audience when NBC used several of their tracks during coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Over more than two decades they have built a catalog of more than 14 studio albums, including the ambitious double LP Departure Songs and Oblivion Hymns, which brought in a full orchestra, a children's choir, and guest vocals. They run their own label, Hammock Music, keeping full creative control over a sound that keeps evolving. Live shows have always been rare, which somehow makes the music feel even more private, like something you discovered rather than were sold.