Following four albums rooted in Greek mythology, Swiss post-rock band hubris. turn to another major source of inspiration for their fifth album, White Shores: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. More specifically, composer and founder Jonathan Hohl draws on Tolkien’s exploration of mortality and immortality, and the idea that death, described by the Elves as the “Gift of Men”, need not be understood purely as tragedy.
Written in the wake of Hohl’s grandfather’s passing, White Shores unfolds across five movements — Death. Is. Just. Another. Path. — a phrase taken from Gandalf’s words to Pippin in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation. Its five-part structure also reflects Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Tolkien’s vision of the “white shores” glimpsed by Frodo at the end of The Lord of the Rings ultimately provides both the album’s title and a framework through which Hohl explores grief, acceptance and death as transition rather than ending.
Initially composed by Hohl in his home studio, White Shores was then collaboratively arranged with Léo Juston, Lucien Leclerc and Matthieu Grillet, transforming its deeply personal origins into a collective work. To mark the album’s release, we’ve asked Jonathan Hohl to share three of the key influences behind White Shores as part of our Under the Influence feature.
Esbjörn Svensson Trio – Tuesday Wonderland
This is by far the most influential album I have ever heard. I had always thought of jazz music as being elitist and out of the reach of my poor musical taste but this artist and more specifically this album just showed me how broad of a category jazz could be. The musicianship, the composition, the improvisations and the whole entire vibe of the album are simply unmatched. I have listened to this album so many times that I know all the piano improvs note for note – which makes listening to live versions of any of these songs interesting because I keep getting surprised.
Veil of Maya – [id]
I had to include at least of progressive metal album in there and although there were probably ten other candidates, if there is one album where I know for a fact was influential in my guitar playing it is this one. I learned how to play half of this album on guitar which not only undoubtedly influenced my playing but also allowed me some new perspectives on interesting chord shapes and voicing choices. I have always admired the use of 4th and sus chords in the works of Veil of Maya which in my opinion is almost in itself their sound signature.
Terror – Keepers of the Faith
Yet another absolutely crucial album in my upbringing. In my late-teenage years, I had a whole hardcore phase where my life was solely relying on mosh pit, two-step and stage diving. Terror is by far the most influential band in this genre to me because of how the whole entire concept felt as though it was about being part of a community. Terror is also probably the band I have seen live the most and Keepers of the Faith had just been released when I started diving into hardcore music.
Out of the three albums, this is definitely the one that I don’t think anyone could hear in hubris.’s music, but I do believe that it somehow rubbed off on a lot of the stuff I do.
