Interview and photos by Teddy Urban.
Some Sunday night just over a year ago, I slipped a note beneath a metal door in a corridor of many such doors which read something along the lines of “you guys rock”. Coming from beyond that door was the powerful sound of halfway up a jagged hill. The Brooklyn two-piece, composed of guitarist and vocalist Devin Gilbert and drummer Jeb Polstein, sounds as if they’ve played music together forever. And that’s because they have.
When did you both start playing music?
Jeb Polstein: I banged on pots and pans while listening to the
Beatles as a toddler, briefly picked up the cello in third grade, then snare drum
in fourth grade. I started seriously playing the drum set in sixth grade, mostly jazz,
and continued through various groups and genres up to today.
Devin Gilbert: I really enjoyed trying out lots of instruments when I was a little one.
But I didn’t start learning and playing music until third grade, when I played cello in
the same class as Jeb. After that it was on to flute, guitar, and bass. Unfortunately, I
no longer play the flute.
How did you two meet? How long was it until you were playing music together?
halfway up a jagged hill: We met in preschool, at around three years old. We played together in a few different school ensembles (chorus, orchestra, concert band, jazz band) but started making original music in middle school.
Were either of you involved in any previous bands/projects? Did any of them involve both of you?
JP: Other than the many school bands, we made music for a long time together in Primate
House, then Chris Sunshine. Without Devin, I was part of a duo in Seattle called Macaw–a very experimental
group that was born out of free jazz sessions and lots of counting. Also, a metal band in college with an
electric violin.
DG: In 5th grade, me and Jeb started our first band called The Hoot which was a very short lived project
with one song called “The World is Moving too Fast”. Other than
Primate House,
Chris Sunshine,
and some other short lived bands I was in without Jeb, I mainly made music under the name
Kid Dusty.
Other people have worked on tracks with me, including Jeb, but for the most part it’s me in my room, using a cracked
version of Logic X, pretending that I know how to record and produce music.
Were there any ways in which those projects directly informed the approach to halfway up a jagged hill?
HUAJH: For sure. Everything has a way of seeping into the music, whether you want it to or not.
That’s the beauty of it.
Primate House was a very formative group. It taught us the power of teamwork–getting a group of friends
and throwing all your creative juices together until something sounds good. And it was the first band
either of us recorded or toured with; it introduced us to this musical community. Both of us have also
played and studied jazz quite a bit. Even though HUAJH is not really bebop(maybe post-post-hard bop?),
there is a sense of spontaneity and dynamics that we hold on to.
Where does the name halfway up a jagged hill come from?
HUAJH: Devin came across the phrase. It’s the literal Latin translation of “mediocre.”
How are songs written for the band? Do you jam together, write separately, etc.?
HUAJH: It usually starts with a riff or a shell of a guitar part. Then we jam on it and arrange a structure together. The songs go through many iterations before turning into something. We’ve made this Frankenstein bin of parts that we put scraps of old songs into and pull from when we need it, so some of the songs used to be parts of other songs. Once we have something intriguing, we work on the parts, both on our own and together, and fill up a phone with voice memos. Devin writes the lyrics once the instrumental is pretty much complete.
One of your songs, “El-Ahrairah”, is named for a “trickster hero” rabbit from the Watership Down book series. In general, your song titles (and band name, for that matter) conjure images of nature and folklore. Is engaging with literature a big part of your writing process?
DG: I’m definitely moved by what I see, learn, or read, and I think elements of that totally impact and mold the writing process. I love stories, nature, fantasy, and folklore, and all of the beauty, horror, and mysticism that goes along with it. All of which have inspired a number of songs on our upcoming album such as El-Ahrairah (now called Prince With a Thousand Enemies), Bleakwood (which was inspired by a picture of a hut that Jeb and I took while on a walk in the woods in the woods of our hometown), and Whale Falls (which is the term that is used for when a whale dies and sinks to the bottom of the ocean and all the creatures of the deep feed on its decaying body).
Your live setup is two-piece, with you on guitar and Jeb on drums. Do you feel a kinship with any other two-piece bands? Were there any such bands (or bands in general) who were especially influential to your live setup?
HUAJH: A two-piece wasn’t actually the original intention–we love a nice deep bass–but
it sort of naturally emerged. It’s easier to get two people in a room together every week than three
or four people. There’s bass on the album(played by Devin) and we might incorporate some into live
shows in the future, but for now we still feel good about the duo. It gives both of us room to stretch
out musically.
We definitely feel a kinship with other two-pieces. Hella is a big influence–Zach Hill’s drumming
massively expanded my mind. Gnarwhal is another one. Both of them get this maximalist sound with a
minimalist set-up.
As far as other bands go: Pile is at the core of both of our hearts; Liturgy has really influenced
our blast beat style. We also love Sumac and their patient heaviness, as well as Envy, Kal Marks,
and The World is a Beautiful Place. And the heaviest of them all, Debussy.
You recently recorded with Reed Black at Vinegar Hill Sound–how did that come about?
HUAJH: Back in 2022, we played on a Fish Hunt record ( “Self-Taught” ) at Vinegar Hill Sound . It was just one song, but the experience was excellent. The space is beautiful, and Reed is not only a masterful engineer and mixer but also the kindest person. So we knew we had to go back to VHS to record the HUAJH album. VHS has a record label (VHS Records) and we’re putting the album out on it. We’re very hyped about that. The other VHS artists–Fish Hunt, People I Love, Dan English–are all incredible.
What’s up next for halfway up a jagged hill?
HUAJH: The big thing is releasing the album, then going from there! We just want to make music that feels good to us, put it out into the universe, and see what happens.
Listen to halfway up a jagged hill on Bandcamp.