Jonathan Troy, along with his brother, Matt, records as The Hi-Life Companion. Since releasing their first EP in 2008 on Cloudberry Records, the band have issued two LPs, ‘Say Yes’ (2009) and ‘Our Years In The Wilderness’ (2014), picking up radio play on BBC Radio 1 and 6Music along the way. Reviews have hailed their ‘joyous 60s pop’ and compared The Hi-Life Companion’s to bands such as The Beach Boys, Belle & Sebastian, early-REM and The Go-Betweens. He told his Harkive story in 2015.
In the car on the way to/from work: Silver Jews ‘Bright Flight’ CD. I have a 20-30 minute journey in the car and there has to be music available,usually CDs. I like radio but it’s a bit unpredictable. It’s great to hear Bruce Springsteen but not so great to hear the Lighthouse Family. The car has CDs stacked into every orifice but I am slowly coming around to the idea of MP3s, although my current car doesn’t have an MP3 player.
I play it loud because it’s just me in the car. I always have to wait until a song has completely finished until I get out of the car, whether I’m late or not. And I hate not finishing a CD so if it’s still playing by the time I get home I drive around for a bit so I can hear the end. This is hard to explain to people.
CDs in the car is where I mostly listen to music. I travel around for work during the day and if I can listen to 2-3 albums in a day I’m delighted. Yesterday in the car – in-between swapping CDs – I heard Ed Sheeran’s ‘Photograph’ and thought bloody hell that’s a tune.
Occasionally something I hear will make me well up – songs that have recently made me cry in the car include:
Eels – PS You Rock My World
Sun Kil Moon – I Watched The Film The Song Remains The Same
Jonathan Richman – That Summer Feeling
Often it’s just a word, or a line, like Stephen Merritt singing ‘…and when the wind is in your hair you laugh like a little girl…’
In the evening cooking tea: Tony Christie ‘Made In Sheffield’ via MP3 in docking station. I like music on when I’m cooking or eating tea. Occasionally if someone is talking at me during this period I’ll nod politely and then play the song again later on when I get the chance. My wife knows by now that I’m listening to her with one ear and the other is trying to work out what the tambourine is doing. ‘Louise’ is a song that stops me in my tracks – maybe as you get older it’s the nostalgia in music that gets you, the reminder of times past, of how you used to be.
Later in the evening – Spotify, You Tube or Soundcloud. I have my headphones on and play demo’s of our own new songs and then browse through recommendations from friends. I like the way headphones bring everything right to the forefront Recently I found myself listening to The Walkmen, Crybaby and The Triffids as a result. There’s nothing better than a strong recommendation from a friend: the excitement of a new thing, a new sound, a new discovery, its like being a teenager again.