Hilary Cousins breaks the universe open on “Fragments”
Hilary Cousins has never been shy about ambition. His writing tends to scan big landscapes and big questions, refusing to accept the small box often assigned to indie rock. Even so, his latest “Fragments” feels like a leap in that realm. The December 19th-released single interrogates existence at a planetary scale, pulling medieval mystics, evolutionary theory, and astronomical violence into one three-dimensional hook. It’s the rare rock track that asks what humans are doing here and manages to make that question feel like a celebration rather than a crisis.
Cousins wrote, composed, and produced the song himself, which explains its cohesion. The track thinks in vast terms, but it doesn’t wander. He pairs a steady rhythmic engine with guitar textures built to shimmer, allowing the track to lift instead of collapse under its themes. Instead of turning philosophy into homework, Cousins uses melody as an accelerant. You can dance and groove while contemplating the meaning of it all.
If the ideas are ambitious, then so is the team behind the making of this song! Mixing duties from Mark Needham and Ben O’Neill bring an arena-sized shine without sanding off personality. Steve Fallone’s mastering adds width without dilution. This is indie-pop that refuses to be small, recorded between New Haven, Joshua Tree, and Los Angeles, but glued together by Cousins’ own vision.
The band assembled for this cut plays with a serious velocity as well as the instrumentation floored us collectively. Paul “Binzer” Brennan drives the drums like an engine that refuses to idle. Tony Ungaro’s bass and guitars supply muscle and elasticity. Chris Ranney’s synths and keys creep in like signals from another room, giving the track a lo-fi pulse that stays warm. Cousins’ own vocals land with clarity and are fully at the center and heart of this song. He is narrating, confessing, and coaxing all at once.
But the heart of “Fragments” lies in its perspective. Cousins was reading medieval mystics, absorbing their apocalyptic imagination, then staring out across the Mojave at terrain shaped by millions of years of deep time. Compared to his earlier acoustic work, “Fragments” adopts a brighter indie and pop-rock style to it. There are synths that create some stunning soundscapes, loops that feel almost tactile, and a noticeably polished pulse from start to finish. It still carries some folk sensibilities, but now they ride shotgun to something louder, catchier, and more rhythmic.
Plenty of artists attempt to merge religion and science, the self and the species, and few do it with a melody that’s going to have people singing this right back. Cousins makes the intellectual feel physical. “Fragments” is an indie-rock track built for listeners who want to feel their place in the universe without losing the beat.
It stopped us in our tracks when we first heard it, and on repeated listens, has only continued to grow! We urge everyone out there to take a moment to listen in, follow along, and of course to stay tuned for the latest.
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