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When T. Hardy Morris started putting together bands with high school friends\u2014which snowballed into decades of writing songs, recording albums and touring\u2014he never intended to be an entertainer. But that\u2019s exactly where he found himself years later, an artist in the middle of the entertainment business figuring out what that meant.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month Morris released his album Artificial Tears<\/em>, courtesy of New West Records imprint Normaltown Records, as an existential exploration of the differences between art and entertainment. Following his 2021 release, The Digital Age of Rome<\/em>, which was a commentary on living in a world perpetually on the edge of extinguishing itself, Morris continues to flex masterful songwriting imbued with impactful meaning inside of hazy, raw rock-and-roll tracks.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the theme kind of gets explored by having done this a long time and written a ton of music and performed a ton of music, and just kind of leaning into that and reminding yourself that you can still, you know, be an artist and a creator without it having to be entertainment, right? There\u2019s a difference. And you have to remind yourself that as an audience member, too,\u201d says Morris.<\/p>\n The 12-song album was produced and mixed by Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket. Initially Morris set off for Broemel\u2019s home studio in Nashville without a concrete plan for an album, and the two recorded several demos on a four-track machine as a casual session. They already had some time booked at a professional studio, so they took some songs there to record with a full band, but ended up only pulling some of those into Artificial Tears<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wound up using some of the stuff from the demo session just because I really liked the way it sounded, and I liked the way it felt, and I liked his little studio,\u201d says Morris. \u201cKind of based on the sonics of that place, and the little setup that we had going, it made me be like, what if we tried a few older songs that I had never really tried in a studio before. I thought they would fit that scenario, and I like the way they came out. Then I wrote some new songs, too, just based on kind of how it felt in there.\u201d<\/p>\n The difference in recording atmospheres between Broemel\u2019s home studio space and the professional studio with more cooks in the kitchen reflects that idea of art versus entertainment, and it came through organically in the process. Morris explains that pulling songs from the two different places is why the album doesn\u2019t have a very uniform sound, but the louder, fuller sounding band tracks and quieter, contemplative stripped down tracks represent the two sides of Morris as a musician.<\/p>\n