Eric Hilton Announces THE EASY UNDERGROUND Album

Eric Hilton, the trip-hop pioneer known as a member of THIEVERY CORPORATION, has announced his forthcoming studio album, The Easy Underground, out Friday, November 20 via Hilton's Montserrat House label.

An homage to Hilton's long-standing fascination with the elegant, cinematic, and frequently overlooked sounds of the 1960s and '70s, The Easy Underground spirits listeners away to a breezily romantic world of whispered promises and slow-burned deep kisses.

Joining Hilton for this project is longtime musical compadre Natalia Clavier, who sings on nine of the album's 13 tracks, in multiple languages. Fans of Thievery Corporation's 2013 album Saudade will find The Easy Underground tonally adjacent, with flavors of bossa nova, Brazilian rhythms and female vocals present on both. But while the two records share some common ingredients, Hilton's solo recipe has deeper grooves, more space, and isn't following an established blueprint. He's taking the easy listening thing and pulling it into the underground.

'I'm intrigued by music that can exist both in the foreground and the background, you just put it on and let it vibe and seep in, in its own way,' Hilton says. 'But if you listen very intently, off in your own little world, you'll get a lot out of it. And that's a world I call 'The Easy Underground.'

The album's first single, 'Promise Me,' featuring Natalia Clavier, is now streaming.

Eric Hilton's intrigue with the oft-maligned 'Easy Listening' genre began years ago. 'My introduction to the quiet sounds began in my late teens with a chance discovery of Stan Getz and Luis Bonfá's album Jazz Samba Encore!', he explains. 'Until that moment, I had never considered how beautifully powerful these more nuanced records could be.'

'From there, I delved into 1960s Brazilian music and soon discovered inspiring film soundtracks from the same era. I immersed myself in the works of Lalo Schifrin, Sérgio Mendes, Francis Lai, Henry Mancini, and many other composers; many who worked with studio groups and small orchestras. Throughout my own evolution as an artist and producer, these softer sounds continued to captivate and inspire me.'

There is an unmistakable sense of time and place in his new offering, The Easy Underground, but Hilton's intention is not to recreate the past. He is interested in the atmosphere that those records created: the warmth of a small orchestra, the intimacy of a softly played rhythm section, the subtle drama of strings and woodwinds, the seductive pull of a melody that never needs to announce itself. In an age of increasingly compressed and frenetic music, there is something almost radical about restraint.

'The music I love from that period never seemed to be trying too hard to get your attention,' Hilton says. 'There is a confidence in allowing a song to breathe. A lot of contemporary music is about a predictably manufactured impact. I'm interested in a more demure, rarified mood.'

That sensibility has been present throughout Hilton's work, from his early explorations of dub and bossa nova and the expansive musical vocabulary of Thievery Corporation. This signature production approach has permeated his subsequent solo recordings. Yet The Easy Underground feels like a return to a particularly personal source: the records that first taught him that quiet music could carry enormous emotional weight. These are sounds for late nights, long drives, dimly lit rooms, and the hours when the world finally begins to recede. Music that doesn't demand attention, but rewards it.

The Easy Underground Track Listing

Alma Boa feat. Natalia Clavier

La Musa feat. Natalia Clavier

Caminhos feat. Natalia Clavier

Promise Me feat. Natalia Clavier

Brooklyn Sicilians

Look What You've Done feat. Natalia Clavier

Soft Focus

The Easy Underground

Mi Buenos Aires feat. Natalia Clavier

Le Miroir feat. Natalia Clavier

Silent Samba

Innocent Eyes feat. Natalia Clavier

Vai Chegar feat. Natalia Clavier

Photo Credit: Puma Ptah