New Music from Hachey

New Brunswick R&B/HipHop artist releases debut EP.

Zach-6 — photo: Glass Treasures Photography

June is shaping up to be quite a month for New Brunswick music with new releases from all genres dropping left, right and centre. Over the past few years through the Grid City Magazine inbox, we’ve been introduced to the wide world of music being made in this province, but through it all, some genres remain largely under represented. R&B/Hip-Hop certainly fits that profile. It’s been a while since we last received anything related to R&B, or Hip or Hop. That is until we received an advance copy of the debut EP from Fredericton based R&B/HipHop artist, Hachey. After listening to his surprisingly catchy debut, This Is It, we reached out a learn more about this new voice on the NB scene.

“I’ve been surrounded by music my whole life,” said Hachey, discussing his early introduction to music. “My mother was actually a professional singer at a very young age. If you ask me, I’m pretty sure she decided to drop the music dream because she had children, but I’m sure she’ll deny that if you ask her.”

A well-rounded musician, Hachey got his first taste of making music at the age of eight. He learned to read music and play piano before eventually shifting his focus to drumming, an instrument he pursued for about eight years before switching to guitar. After playing in a handful of bands and dabbling in “almost every genre”, he eventually realized that the full band environment wasn’t what he was craving.

“I was terrible at working in a band environment,” he said. “There were always way too many opinions and disagreements. It just felt like it was never getting anywhere. Some people can handle it, it’s just not my environment.”

In 2011 he got a taste of performing in musical theatre and realized he had a passion for singing. This realization, paired with his longtime love of lyrical poetry, opened a whole new creative world.

“Absolutely everything about vocals came to me naturally, which is funny because I was always way too stubborn to let my mother teach me how to sing,” he said. “Instead, I would be hiding around the corner during her private singing lessons in our living room, and I’d be jotting down notes to practice on my own time.

“Backing up a bit, in seventh grade we did a section on poetry, and if you know me well, school and I don’t agree. But for some reason, when it came to poetry, I’d catch myself running home from the bus so I could start writing right away. The first poem I presented in front of the class was about a car accident and I remember when I got the red coiled notebook back, there was a big 12/10 on the page as my final mark. From that day on my teacher, Mr. Rogers, asked me to keep writing. I did just that and at the end of the year I actually gave him the book filled with poems, and the last I heard, he still has it.”

Once Hachey’s interests fell into place, the music started flowing naturally. His debut five track EP, This Is It, is a solid introduction to a new voice in NB R&B/Hip-Hop paired with great production and a couple of standout tracks, specifically 12.10 and Wake Up. While the EP represents a diverse mix of styles ranging from smooth lyrical flows to spoken word, Hachey admits to trying a lot of things in an effort to find his voice.

“This EP for me was really about beating around the bush, trying to find my own unique sound,” he said. “I wanted to find a nice balance between rapping and singing, and I still don’t believe I have it down yet, so there will still be a lot of exploring in the future.”

The EP’s production was handled by Little Vision (aka Brody Weld) of Hamilton, Ontario, whose use of synth leads and key-driven melodies offer a stable surface for Hachey’s vocal and lyrical experimentation, complete with quick bursts of harmony and overdubs that provide a strong compliment to the EP’s introspective lyrics.

“I want to truly emphasize how incredible Brody is even though he’d probably roast me for getting all sappy,” said Hachey. “He’s truly passionate about the music and the passion of others. I almost gave up on the genre because every producer I came across was basically a website accepting credit cards. I wish I could keep referring to Brody as Little Vision to promote his company but after these past few month of working together, we’re on such a personal level that he’s just Brody to me. His role was so much more than a producer. He acted a personal guru and always had words of encouragement.”

Follow the Soundcloud link below to hear the full EP.

Hachey performs at The Capital Complex June 24.