“Silver Bullet,” the new single from The South Hill Experiment, opens with repeated lines of encouragement: “Not afraid, not afraid, I’ve got a silver bullet.” Over staccato synths and a mechanistic drum machine, brothers Gabe and Baird Acheson strut onstage and fret their hour the only way they know how: with defiance. Pitched seismometer waves and twelve-story-stairwell tracked vocals and guitars provide a sense of scale and ambitiousness. A guest spot from Yendry gives a certain warmth. This is music for tectonic shifts, for moving on with grace and canniness, for taking plunges. What’s there to be afraid of?
“I think I’m getting older/I think I’m getting over it,” goes the mantra-like refrain. Maybe that’s coming to terms with the passage of time, the disappointments of aging, the mourning of a lost love, or a bitter end. As for the silver bullet? Perhaps that’s a commitment to craft, to the long arc of a career in a dying industry, or to having found love in a dying world. “Dancing on the grave of this dying artform, the studio album, is still fun,” says Baird.
“The Experiment is both fueled by and generates belief,” says Gabe. “There’s something about believing in a lyric enough to repeat it.” Interesting, then, that each line in the chorus begins, “I think.” Sometimes all you can be sure of is uncertainty. Lucky for us, there’s always getting over it—or else just grooving it out. The South Hill Experiment opt to do both. We’d be wise to follow them as they guide us deeper into the feeling.
The brothers and their band will promote this upcoming single with their “Silver Bullet Tour,” which features a run of November shows down the California coast, including stops in Berkeley, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
“Baird and Gabe have a profound understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, thought processes and sensibilities… They step in to elevate each other during moments of self-doubt and, similarly, use their discretion when putting new concepts under the microscope.” – Clash
“A beautifully dissonant set of jazz-folk dynamics…” – KCRW
