Hallelujah the Hills - Have You Ever Done Something Evil? (2014)

Boston’s Hallelujah the Hills have taken another giant step forward with their new record, Have You Ever Done Something Evil?. The album follows 2012’s excellent No One Knows What Happens Next and sounds like a propulsive, muscled expansion of all its predecessor’s impressive charms. These are epic songs still knotted and coiled up in all kinds of complex tensions. The surprising tempo and textural shifts from the band echo perfectly the twisting narratives, detailed lives, and clever phrases that fill frontman Ryan Walsh’s lyrics. These songs are expansive, even all encompassing in their sound and fury, but deeply personal in their impact. Album to album, Hallelujah the Hills have gotten better and better, making it harder and harder to top themselves. And yet Have You Ever Done Something Evil? is their finest statement yet, no small feat when you consider how good the band’s previous three records were. Below, Ryan Walsh has offered us some insight into the songs that comprise the album, revealing some hidden details and leaving others nicely shrouded in mystery. PopMatters is pleased to premiere Have You Ever Done SomethingEvil?, out May 13 on Discrete Pageantry Records.