Houses Soak It Up

We were hit hard when our country suffered through a recession. There were job cuts, a fickle stock market, foreclosures, and an overall sense of public unease. Some complained, saying they wish they could just move to an island and live off the land, primal living at it's best. Most of us just joked and kept our fingers crossed, waiting to see if the latest version of bureaucracy could bring us out of the slump.

But when 24-year-old Dexter Tortoriello was laid off from Apple, he packed his bags and left with girlfriend Megan Messina to Papaikou, Hawaii, a remote little town outside of Hilo. There was no plumbing, no gas, and the water they cooked with, showered in, and drank came from the rain - a utopia for some, and for others, a question of madness.

Their island cabin was a place of refuge and restoration. They fed themselves by cultivating microorganisms through the day, and at night lit candles to guide them through hours of writing music and painting. During this solitude, the couple claim they morphed into one, in the most tranquil and natural sense of the word. It was there in that candlelit bungalow they became Houses, and there they conceived their debut album, All Night, cultivated with the same nurture and care given to their daily living.

The ethereal mood in All Night pays tribute to where the inspiration came from and the way it was processed. The melodies are downtempo and optimistic, transcending your mood to sandy beaches and warm, restful rains. It's tropical and airy, and is indeed mood music.

"Endless Spring" is reminiscent of a beachside drum circle, the melody circulating with soft instruments and lyrics promising that endless kind of summer love. The instrumentals are dense and often contagious, best displayed in "Soak It Up" and "Reds," which seem to organically share the same origination. As for "Sleeping" and "Lost in Blue," these are the kinds of songs you can meditate to while taking a bath, letting the harmonious structure (or lack thereof) adhere to your unwinding.

As Tortoriello and Messina's money ran out, it was back to Chicago where a few more songs were recorded and All Night underwent serious production. The album was first pressed on vinyl and then digitally transferred. Any imperfection left over stayed on the record to give it an authentic and nostalgic touch. Keep in mind, All Night doesn't have a wide range musically and stylistically. But what has been produced is an album filled with escapism and soundscapes made to bring its listeners into a new mindset.