Bad Bad Hats

Over the summer I got really into this band out of Minneapolis called Bad Bad Hats. They’ve got a really fun acoustic sound that’s perfect for blasting while on a road trip with the sun beating down on you and a film reel playing in your head. Essentially, pretty ideal for anyone who imagines their life as a movie. I recently made a pretty cool discovery when I stumbled upon their lead singer’s bandcamp page from before the band started working on their first EP, It Hurts, and since then I have been playing her early music and the EP’s original demos on loop.

What I love about Kerry Roy’s music is that she writes really soft and sweet love songs, complete with visually vivid lyrics and fluttering harmonies, but captured in each easygoing piece is a complex story about the struggles of relationships missing from a lot of contemporary love songs. For instance, her piece 9AM tells the story of a person who leads someone on because she knows she “doesn’t feel a thing” but is too attached to let go. This apology piece is complicated by lines like “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry I’m not sorry” and “don’t tell me I can’t stay but know I’m gonna treat you badly.” I Know I Am But What Are You is a song about wasting your time on someone who doesn’t seem to want to be with you, but settling for the fact that you are the one they choose to be with at the end of the night. Not only is this a possible foil to the person in 9AM, but it touches on relationships that  go undefined by the parties involved and the difficulties of navigating them.

One of my favorites is a song called The Things We Never Say, which tells the tale of two people in a complicated relationship who do a lot of things “wrong” by conventional standards. They make each other jealous, are never around when needed, and don’t know how to say ‘I love you,’ but their feelings for each other go without saying. It’s a beautiful song about resigning yourself to another’s flaws and realizing that you love them regardless.

I would definitely suggest giving her demos a listen if you are looking for a new sound for the summer, as well as grabbing a free download of their EP, which has a higher quality sound. You can find her demos on her bandcamp here.