On the latest episode of Discologist, Eduardo and Kevin welcome back author/musician/all-around-rad-dude Ryan Walsh (Hallelujah The Hills, Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968) to talk about DECK, his latest album with his long-time band Hallelujah The Hills. Clocking in at a massive 54 songs (1 song for each card in a deck of cards plus the joker), DECK is both a monument to the power of creativity and an essential history of the music that influenced Ryan, and us all, over the past few decades. It’s also one of the best albums of the year.

Even though they may have been flying just under the radar, Boston’s Hallelujah the Hills has spent the last fourteen years putting out some of the most consistently satisfying rock and roll that this century has to offer.

After garnering national attention and widespread acclaim for Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 – one of the best books ever written about rock music, Van Morrison, Boston, or possibly all of the above – singer/bandleader Ryan Walsh knew that his next project would be a new Hallelujah The Hills album, and now I’m You, the band’s magnum opus is here. A travelogue of indie-rock history, existential fear, and joyful salvation, I’m You celebrates the search for truth in art, the truth about ourselves, and how our connections to each other are what will save us in the end. Maybe.

Morphine’s Cure For Pain is an album that revels in finding hope in the darkest nights of our souls. For twenty-five years the weird magic conjured by Mark Sandman (2-string bass/vocals), Dana Colley (sax), and Jerome Deupree (drums) has remained singular in its sound and remains (oddly) peerless to this day.

This week we’re celebrating their remarkable achievement by taking a deep dive into one of the greatest albums ever made PLUS checking in with friend-of-the-pod, author, musician, and native Bostonian, Ryan Walsh to get a first-hand account of the band in it’s prime.