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Jun 22, 2023 Web Exclusive By Kat Ramkumar

The hazy and languid Haymaker is the debut album from Austin-based indie rockers Hall Johnson. The band, named after a fabled Farmer Hall and Farmer Johnson (never having met the two), check off all the boxes that make neo-indie rock music, well, neo and indie and rock. Crashing drums? Check. A melancholy voice crooning lyrics of growing pains? Check. A bass keeping steady time, reminding everyone else that there’s more to come? Also check. But the band have grown over the last couple years they’ve been making music, and they’re here to tell us all about it. It’s almost a yearbook of sorts.

Haymaker was produced by Charles Dahlke (The Brazen Youth) and was written in a month when band members Milo Cortese (vocals, guitar), Logan Krupovage (vocals, percussion), Brandon Price (vocals, guitar), and Trevor Stovall (bass) were living on their producer’s farm. Turning to each other for company and inspiration, the band build off each other’s stories and turn them into picturesque crowd pleasers.

The opening track “Barefoot” does its job perfectly. It has a slow, tantalizing guitar buildup that bursts in colorful unison lyrics. You’re instantly transported back to your high school bedroom where you’re laying on the floor with your legs up on the wall, wondering what’s to come. Hall Johnson are dreamers and they take listeners along for the vision with them.

The numerous crescendos peppered throughout various songs such as “OMWO,” “Art Museum,” and “Relevant,” display the band’s novice, yet skillful musicality—they move with their music. Hall Johnson aren’t afraid to juxtapose the classic indie rock album with slower songs either. Tracks such as “Cynical,” “Less Is More,” and the acoustic led “Sun Don’t Set” take a step back, asking listeners to question what is real and what is not. “Blind eyes can’t you see the truth?/It surrounds you/It provides proof/It twists the brain,” Cortese sings.

“Vermont” features Cortese singing about past mistakes and future hopes. There seems to be an influx of songs about Vermont these days, apparently it’s the coolest and most emotionally vulnerable place to be.

Growing up is inevitable and growing up is real, Hall Johnson are able to embody that excitement (alongside a little terror and resentment) into a 31-minute, 11-song experience. (www.therecordmachine.co/hall-johnson)

Author rating: 7.5/10