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Oct 09, 2020 Quarter Life Crisis By Christopher Roberts Photography by Colin Medley

Quarter Life Crisis is a new project from Ryan Hemsworth. This week Quarter Life Crisis’ self-titled debut EP was announced and the EP’s first single, “Postcard From Spain,” which features guest vocals from Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan (as well as a children’s choir), was shared. Quarter Life Crisis is due out December 4 via Saddle Creek and also features Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Charlie Martin (Hovvdy), Claud, and Yohuna. Check out “Postcard From Spain” below, followed by the EP’s tracklist and cover art.

Hemsworth had this to say about “Postcard From Spain” in a press release: “I had a plan going into the Quarter-Life Crisis project, but Frances really helped radicalize me, this collaboration was kind of the catalyst I unknowingly needed. Working on the arrangement together and with our engineer Ryan Schwabe was the best—I’ve worked with a lot of people but I felt a serious encouraging push from them. In the end we got this fun mix of live, electronic, soft and hard sounds (And a children’s choir on the chorus!). It feels like the basis of my whole project.”

Quinlan had this to say: “This was one of my first attempts at writing lyrics to a fully formed and recorded melody—it’s certainly one of the few times I’ve worked on something collaborating with an artist other than my bandmates in Hop Along. I love the melodies Ryan Hemsworth composes, they’re both catchy and intriguing, calculated and dreamy. I was nervous about possibly throwing a wrench into it with my vocals, as I’m so used to writing lyrics along with the chords, but it ended up being a really freeing experience to focus solely on vocal melody, to play with where I could take what was already there, already strong on its own.”

Summing up Quarter Life Crisis, Hemsworth says: “This project has me in the process of going back to when I was a kid when I’d sit down and play guitar for hours and come up with melodies and chords by just messing around. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for ages. Quarter-Life Crisis is just another way for me to work with artists whose music I really enjoy and listen to all the time.”

Collaboration was key to the EP. “Getting out of my comfort zone and bringing others into that process has always led to something really unique,” Hemsworth adds. “As a producer, I really respond to other people’s ideas and whatever they can bring to a song. Being in a room with someone with a different outlook, or working remotely with them, I hopefully help facilitate something that feels new and exciting for both of us.”

Quarter Life Crisis EP Tracklist:

1. Waterfall (feat. Charlie Martin of Hovvdy)
2. Comfortable (feat. Hand Habits)
3. Postcard from Spain (feat. Frances Quinlan)
4. You & Me (feat. Claud)
5. Fatigue
6. Stars (feat. Yohuna)

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