Album Notes

Hello Lovers is a string chamber group with vocal from Austin, TX.

They perform a music rooted in the Southern Blues and spiritual traditions, with jazz ensemble methods and a firm footing in romantic period classical chamber form.

The group is comprised of both conservatory trained professional musicians and players who have trained independently. Its members have had an active involvement in the punk, jazz improvisation and fashionable rock scenes of Austin, San Francisco, and New York City.

Composer J. Christian King (Kodiak/les Messieurs du Rock) founded Hello Lovers as an umbrella title for experimental works. The group began to find its voice in a yearlong Negro spiritual workshop coordinated by Mr. King. From there, King began working on a synthesis of traditional folk-song writing, combining his own jazz improv training with an unyielding fascination for chamber music.

This music began to take shape when King assembled a group for a recording session through musical colleagues. He was introduced to Masha Poloskova, violinist and graduate of the renowned conservatory of Moscow; Mollie Fischer (Tuna Helpers), cellist and recent graduate of the Kansas City conservatory of music; and Andy Hadaway (The Innocent/AM Syndicate), one of Austin’s most prolific sidemen and the acclaimed composer for Austin’s Spank Dance Company. It is these four who now make-up the current group, collectively known as Hello Lovers.

Their initial studio effort was recorded in August 2005 at Means of Production Studio in Austin. The recording has resulted in their debut album, now available from Inchworm Records. The "Vanity Fair" EP features seven tracks, including standouts “My Girlfriend Is A Gay Pirate,” “A) Fall B) Fell Flora,” and “The Ribbon Moves,” the first single from the album.

Their sound has been compared to fashionable contemporaries Antony and the Johnsons, Scott Walker and Devendra Banhart and possesses a pop sensibility common among young, yet seasoned rock and pop players.

In the words of one member of their audience, “I’ll take this as the one hour of the day I didn’t want to kill myself.” More to come…