Dry Hit (Ann Xiety album)

Dry Hit
Album by Ann Xiety
Released	April 2, 2017
Recorded	Connecticut, November 21, 2012, January 9, 2014; Massachusetts, Spring 2015 - February 2017
Genre	Experimental, Anti-folk, Outsider, Lo-fi, Avantgarde
Length	24:33
Label	Independent

Dry Hit is the 2nd album by American poet Matthew Little under the stage name Ann Xiety. It was released on April 2, 2017 coinciding with Little's mother's 50th birthday.

Background

Little released his debut album Death and Doubt in November 2016. All the material on that album Little had scrounged from his saved recordings from previous sessions done at his ex-boyfriend's house, and also used some samples from other artists. The experience of creating an album had left Little wanting to make more original music, so days after he released Death and Doubt, he acquired his old guitar from his father's home and decided to start up another project.

Recording

Little began recording new material just days after his first album's release as he was eager to start something. He wanted an album that consisted of art he truly created himself with no help from sampling whatsoever. Soon after beginning it, however, Little had begun working on a side project with his friend Eli and they both started an experimental hip hop duo called Plot Holes. They recorded a mixtape, Basement Fire, in one month, and shortly after finishing the project he continued working on Dry Hit.

While recording Death and Doubt, Little noticed that his works had a folk vibe to them, so rather than going into the follow-up album with the same punk/grunge attitude he had originally wanted, he settled for songs that were earthy, low tempo, but he wanted to retain a certain heaviness in its textures. He kept the aesthetic of having the recordings sounding garage quality, but he didn't have much of a choice with that fact due to his amp having a constant static and also being able to only use his phone to capture everything.

The album was entirely recorded in Little apartment bedroom, mostly at night while his roommates were at work and he could have a little more freedom to play a little louder. A large amount of the material was improvised, including some of Little's vocals. Little recorded sometimes multiple takes while figuring out how the songs were going to progress; on a few occasions Little recorded lyrics from the top of his head. This is especially the case for "Everyday", which Little recorded while at work in the bathroom.

Two of the songs originally appeared on Little debut album, "Cope" and "Coming Back". Little toyed with the idea of using those songs for the new release because they were one-hundred percent his creations, and he was also getting antsy about not coming up with new instrumentals sooner than he wanted; eventually he added them, as they went for the most part with the feel and the themes the album was presenting. "Coming Back", and also another song, "Chaotic Over-Theme", weren't recorded during the Dry Hit sessions; they were recorded in 2014 and 2012, respectively. "Chaotic Over-Theme" was influenced by the drone/stoner metal band Sleep's album Dopesmoker; it also shares similarities to Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful of Secrets". It's the oldest recording on the album, and it's also the only song Little recorded while not alone. Little's ex was in the room, and can be heard shifting around while sitting on a chair; Little had placed his ex's phone on a stool near the amp, and his ex can be heard rotating the stool so the phone could be closer to the amp.

Little has stated that of all the songs he's recorded, his personal favorite is "Chaotic Over-Theme".

That was the first time I actually sat and recorded something from my own head. I was such a different person, I was living outside of my home state for the first time in my life and I was getting turned on to different music. I still remember vividly sitting on my ex's bed pretending that his guitar was a lap guitar and I just strummed away while his parents were downstairs getting ready for Thanksgiving. He didn't like it, he actually didn't like anything I recorded, but I remember listening to it and being very proud of how it sounded; it's the closest sound-wise I've ever come to a studio recording.

Subject matter

I was going for music that could be seen as personified dreariness. There's nothing upbeat about any of the tracks, even the ones that might sound fast or heavy. It's all coming from somebody that doesn't feel that they're where they should be in life, from a person who has ideas but doesn't know really how to convey them coherently. It's one-hundred percent outsider, and I'm targeting listeners who feel the same way, because I know there's people that can appreciate the aesthetic of grainy down-and-out music.

“

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Little on what his music represents to him

Originally, the whole album was going to consist of songs pertaining to unhealthy mental states, focusing on ailments of anxiety, paranoia, depression, schizophrenia, etc. Little retained most of those themes, but as the album has been recorded, other subjects have arose.

One track, "Hell No", is a freestyle-progressive folk song that Little thought of on the fly; it deals with an individual half-singing about refusing government welfare because he'd rather "do everything right", and then the song shifts to the narrator talking about how he has silenced themselves from the internet and "the attention" they used to get, and that they'd rather see nobody else except for themselves. The song evokes a kind of isolation that can be seen as both rebellious and hermit-like.

Drugs are mentioned through a few tracks, and the album itself is named after a method of smoking marijuana residue. "Cope" mentions that the singer gets high in the daytime as a way to cope with whatever turmoil he's going through, while "Sober (Colder)" is about someone who hates their surroundings while not high on anything. Little sings "Sober (Colder)" as a person who has a bad drug problem, but is merely acting, as he isn't dependent on any substance other than marijuana. The lyrics come from a poem Little wrote in 2016.

"I'm Happy I'm Alive", one of the album's beginning tracks, is an anthem for someone who tries to force themselves to be happy while they believe strongly that "no one else" is happy their alive. The song's structure is somewhat upbeat while maintaining a monotonous and breathy vocal that balances over a very dark riff, sounding like whoever is recording it doesn't fully believe what they're singing.

Title and cover

The name, Dry Hit, comes from the act of smoking a marijuana pipe for just the resin laden inside; he chose that title as when he began the album's production that was how he was getting high. He had originally thought of calling it "Resin Hits" or "Marijuana Depression", but settled for Dry Hit at his cousin's suggestion.

There were several photos Little wanted to use for Dry Hit. The first was one of a set of flowers against a blank wall at his boyfriend's friend's house that Little had edited; the color of the flowers were turned a bright red while the background became a negative shade of black. Another cover idea was one featuring his cats. Two separate photos of them laying together on a chair were superimposed together, but even though Little liked it the picture didn't go with the album at all subject-wise.

The one Little chose was revealed on Facebook February 7, 2017. It consists of two shots taken while driving on a highway somewhere in his area of Massachusetts while in the distance a bright pink sunset formed. The typography was added using Little's phone, and then later on his laptop he brought them together. He enjoyed the effect of showing a busy highway appearing hazy, as if the driver is hallucinating, which generates a feeling of anxiety for the viewer. The photos were taken while Little was being driven home by his father. The back cover shows Little while in his boyfriend's friend's home, with the song listing and the album title above his head.

Release

Ann Xiety - Dry Hit (Full 2017 Album)

The album was announced to be released April 2, 2017 to coincide with Little's mother's 50th birthday. On March 1, 2017 Little uploaded a teaser video to all of his social media accounts; the video shows Little messing around in front of a TV that projects him endlessly from 2013 as a track plays over. Another teaser was uploaded in the early morning hours of March 9 with an instrumental playing over a video of Little dancing around his old living room in 2011.

Little states he was inspired to release teasers by Lorde, whom had released videos teasing her first single in a couple of years for her song "Green Light". On Facebook, Little revealed that the videos don't have much to do with the project itself, but that "they serve to represent a closing chapter, to clip all ties I have left to my past self. Some of the songs were started during those times, and now they've finally ended".

Dry Hit was officially released on YouTube April 2; there so far aren't any plans on releasing it anywhere else commercially.

Track listing

All tracks were written, recorded, and mixed by Little.

1. Everyday
2. I'm Happy I'm Alive
3. Contemplating Everything Happening
4. Cope*
5. Hell No
6. Coming Back*
7. Sober (Colder)
8. Chaotic Over-Theme*

The tracks "Cope" and "Coming Back" originally appeared on the album Death and Doubt. "Chaotic Over-Theme" was first released in 2012 as a single track on Little's Tumblr and YouTube, and then again in his compilation album Matt's Lost Instrumentals.

External links

• Ann Xiety - Dry Hit (Full 2017 Album)