Ears Wide Open: HiRSH

Kevin Bronson on August 19th, 2016

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Given the onslaught of electro-pop dissecting those vital themes of love and lust, sun, sand and summer, and shaking-your-bootie-blah-blah-blah, it almost feels like an upset to hear a synth-spiked jam about world problems. So we raise our hands (for reasons other than to take a selfie) upon hearing “War,” the debut single from HiRSH. “War has never been won,” sings HiRSH, born Beau Hirshfield, over images snipped from the news in the song’s video. Hirshfield is a native of Northern California who as a child mainlined his father’s record collection — “Beatles, Van Morrison, Simon & Garfunkel, the Cars; you name it, I consumed it,” he says — and whose tastes eventually segued from Bay Area hip-hop, to gangster rap, to folk, to indie-rock and to electro-pop. Upon settling in L.A., Hirshfield played in local bands before going on a songwriting binge and setting off on his own. “War” hits home with pulsing electronics, big beats and a pop chorus … but most of all its timeless message.

||| Watch: The video for “War”