Josh Hight on “In His Wake” and the Origins of Pines

With In His Wake, Detroit-born musician and visual artist Josh Hight introduces Pines, a new project that blends intimate reflection with cinematic atmosphere. Known for his earlier work with post-punk outfit The Detachment Kit and later as Irons, Hight’s latest endeavor marks both a creative renewal and a deepening of his sonic identity.

In His Wake was produced by Richard Norris (The Grid, Jack the Tab, Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve). What began as a chance meeting at a Stone Club event in London quickly developed into a close creative partnership between Hight and Norris. Initially conceived as a noise-based collaboration, Pines evolved into something more melodic and spatial, with Norris encouraging Hight to step forward as both singer and guitarist.

The resulting sound fuses shoegaze textures, slow-burn Americana, and atmospheric psychedelia, balancing raw emotion with refined craft. Hight’s background as a photographer and filmmaker shapes his approach to music—he speaks of “seeing” songs as they unfold, arranging them with a painter’s sense of space and texture.

Over Zoom, Hight discussed the origins of Pines and the making of the EP.

You’ve been involved in several different projects over the years. What made you start Pines at this point in time, and how does it feel different from your past work?

Josh Hight: Pines was something that happened out of nowhere, really. I met Richard Norris, who produced the record, and we became quick friends and started working on some projects. He was going to start a record label with Chandra [Shukla], who is based in Asheville, North Carolina. And he asked me if I wanted to start a band with him, and I said yes. At first, we kind of had intentions of doing a noise project—no vocals or anything—and I played him some of my songs that I had been working on, and he was like, “This is great. This is your band. You’re the guitar player, you’re singing, it’s you.” So that’s how that started.

How it’s different from what I’ve done in the past: it’s kind of similar to some of the things I was doing with Irons, but that was quite a while ago and very different from Detachment Kit, a post-punk band I was in when I was in my twenties. This feels much more, I guess, resolved and—dare I say—adult.

You mentioned that you had played Richard music you had been working on. Did you have any ideas as to what you were going to do with that material before this came about?

Josh Hight: I sort of did. I had a demo for, I think, “Uriel,” which is the last song on the EP. And it was a really heavy guitar part with a drum machine—a really straight-ahead, quite abrasive, industrial-sounding drum machine. And I kind of thought I wanted to take things in that direction, but then I think maybe it was the heat of the summer or the natural environment in which we live. It just kind of started to blossom into something much more ethereal and atmospheric.

Did you set out to make an EP? Did you consider making an album? Was it just that this material seemed to fit together?

Josh Hight: I think we wanted to do something short, so an EP felt right. We wanted to put out a 10-inch record, which is something we’re both quite fond of and is maybe a bit less common now, with the intention of making another one that sort of bookends it, and also releasing other material around this, such as remixes and things like that. So, I have the intention of putting out another EP and then putting out a full-length album of all brand-new material. I kind of wanted to eke it out a little bit.

Was there other material ready when you put the EP together? If so, how did you decide upon this set of songs?

Josh Hight: We worked on quite a lot of songs, and Richard and I are both really impulsive and immediate with how we respond to stuff. So I think we just kind of liked these ones in particular and felt like they had something that was ready to give to some of our collaborators. And they all seemed to fit really well together. The lyrical content kind of speaks to each other, and the other songs felt like they maybe needed a little bit more finesse. They sit a little bit differently, some of them, so they kind of lean into other territories a little bit.

How did you meet and come to work with Richard?

Josh Hight: I met Richard in London at an event for Stone Club, which is like a Neolithic appreciation group. They show films and have talks, and sometimes bands play. We met at The Social, which is a Heavenly Records bar in London, and someone had to introduce us because we were neighbors and didn’t know it. We live a good hour and a half away from London, so it was quite fun to meet him and Sarah, his wife. We rode the train home together and just kind of became really quick friends.

I’m a fashion photographer and art photographer, and we started working on projects right away. I did a film, and Richard did the soundtrack, and then they did a couple other little fashion bits. He came to Paris twice with me for a fashion show and did the soundtrack for that. So we started to become collaborators quite quickly. And when Pines formed, Richard was really encouraging of me to find my own way of telling these stories and giving them more space. I would usually show up with a demo or scratch tracks, and then we’d build on them or remove things and talk about song length and things like that, because I have a tendency to make things really long and reverberated and kind of compressed. He really can open things up spatially, which I really appreciate.

Following up on the story as you wanted to tell, could you discuss the themes behind the songwriting on this EP?

Josh Hight: There are a couple things going on here. I think the whole thing really tethers on coming to terms with your past as an adult—specifically loss and abuse, this movement towards everything being digital, and the lack of communication. And there’s a lot of—I think there are a lot of different messages in there, but they really do draw from past experiences and how I feel about them now.

Do you feel that your work as a visual artist affects your approach to music?

Josh Hight: Absolutely. I’m very visual. I’m very sensory. And I do very much—when I listen to things, I see the music in my head and have a really strong sense of it. Even when I’m arranging things, I see it. I can’t really explain it. I’m a very visual person, and that is also how I learn—visually. I need to be shown something or to watch something, or to learn whilst I’m doing it. So that very much is a part of my process. So yeah, being a visual person is very much linked to music.

Do you feel that your work with Pines evolved much over the course of the project? Was there a point when you felt that you’d found the sound you were going for?

Josh Hight: Yeah, actually, yes. I think when we started to really—well, we worked on “Uriel” first, and we put it away and didn’t listen to it for a while. I think the next thing we worked on was “Ashes for Snow,” which is the second song. We talked a lot about The Cure—specifically Faith, an early Cure record—and this kind of cold, foggy sound. Not that I think my record sounds foggy and cold; I think it sounds kind of warm, but I like that atmospheric feeling. And I think we removed a lot of noise to hit this pocket of atmosphere, and it definitely clicked around that stage. And then “Fifteen” came—“Fifteen” was the last song that we worked on, and that’s my favorite one, but it also feels the most unique as Pines.

Could you talk about the other musicians you worked with on the EP?

Josh Hight: Yeah, we’ve got Andy Bell from Ride and Oasis. He plays on the record. My longtime friend Emmett Kelly plays guitar and bass—I’ve known Emmett for a very long time. We used to live together in Chicago. He plays in a great band called The Hard Quartet with Steve Malkmus and Jim White. And he also has a brilliant solo project called The Cairo Gang.

Then Dottie Cochran sings on “Uriel” with me. She’s a new friend who lives in Brighton and is in a band called Deary. I think they’ve got a few EPs out, but they’re about to put a full-length record out on Bella Union Records. I love her voice so much, and I’ve actually done some photos for their new album, which is exciting.

Do you perform live as Pines?

Josh Hight: I haven’t yet. I used to perform live with Irons, and I’m working on putting a band together here to play these songs in more of a minimal arrangement. So I will be playing some live dates—I’m just looking for the right fit. Richard, some other friends, and I are actually starting to arrange some gigs at one of the churches here to bring in some international acts and also support a lot of the really great talent we have here in Lewes.

Purchase the In His Wake EP from https://richardnorris.bandcamp.com/album/in-his-wake-ep.

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