Hell House, by al Riggs

Hell House

by al Riggs

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price
Cassette + Digital Album

We'll be pressing up 50 copies of this fine album to cassette for shows and record store shelves. Digital download included. Available in November.

Includes unlimited streaming of Hell House via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 2 days

Purchasable with gift card

$9 USD or more

1.	Go When You're Lonesome 03:28	buy track
2.	Hell House 05:12	buy track
3.	Hometown Heroe 04:47	buy track
4.	Christmas Parade 04:24	buy track
5.	Burning Next Door (ft. Reese McHenry) 08:35	buy track
6.	Let's Have a Room (ft. Skylar Gudasz) 03:44	buy track
7.	The Wire Filters no. 2 (ft. Stu McLamb) 04:32	buy track
8.	(Wolf Dream) 02:09	buy track
9.	There Are Days When We're Good 05:27	buy track
10.	Go When You're Lonesome Pt. 1 08:19	buy track

about

"Four Stars: Riggs's latest is an offering of solace, a safe house built in reaction to time spent in a darker domain. The melodies are sometimes faint, the instrumentation sometimes sparse, but all the more welcoming in being so."- Noah Rawlings, Indy Week

FROM AL:

The ideas that became Hell House started to pop up around Halloween of 2016. I was working in a record store in Durham and living in a since-vacated punk house in Chapel Hill. I was writing songs about being an introvert who suddenly found themselves thrust into multiple communities and subcultures through jobs and houses and other people’s jobs and houses. Songs about wolves and queer teenagers running away from home on Halloween night also worked their way into what became the planned first half of an 8 or 9 track album.

The election happened. The day after we all still had to go to work and the sky was grey and cloudy like a movie running out of metaphors to describe how dour everything was. That day I wrote “There are days when we’re good” for Tina and Grayson Currin, who started the Air Horn Orchestra as a means to protest now-former NC governor Pat McCrory. The AHO would make a huge cacophonous noise outside of the Governor’s mansion every week and sources close to Pat revealed that he was definitely listening. Or at least being trapped in his office with no choice but to listen. A recording of The Air Horn Orchestra is featured at the end of “There are days…”.

I’ve lived with these ten songs for the past year now and I’m thankful for everyone that contributed and everyone who came to shows and voiced their kindnesses.

Special thanks to Skylar, Stu, Andrew, Reese, and Nick for their contributions and great noises.

Extra special thanks to Dustin Britt, Sarah Shook, Mark Connor, Justin Ellis, Owen FitzGerald, S.e. Ward, Brad Cook, Kym Register, Ross Grady, John Darnielle, Jeremy Nelson (the hometown heroe), Chip Kloss, Mom, Dad, Sara, Galen, the staffs of The Cave, The Pinhook, Ruby Deluxe, Bull City Records, Nice Price Books and Chock Full ‘O Nuts coffee.

This album is for Durham.

FROM BCRP:

We are beyond excited to have Al's Hell House as the first release on our new monthly digital release imprint, Bull City Records Presents. Al performed this album in its entirety as an electric trio at the shop back in August and it blew us away. His songwriting is ernest and heavy, backed with music that's dark and drifting, yet uplifting. We hope you like it is much as we do. Al is quite prolific, so always check back to his site for more once you're hooked! Recommended for fans of Bill Callahan and the like.

The plan for Bull City Records Presents is to bring new local music, be it demos, bedroom recordings, homemade beats, what have ya, to all ears on the first of each month. After this it will be a surprise until the recordings get posted. We hope you enjoy listening!

credits

released October 13, 2017

All songs scrawled by al Riggs
cover art by Zack Rose

Skylar Gudasz - Vox on 6
Andrew Lowden - Sax on 5 and 10
Reese McHenry - Vox on 5
Stu McLamb - Vox on 7
Nick Johnson - Violin on 7
Al Riggs - All Else

bcrp001: october 2017

PLAY AT MAXIMUM VOLUME TO SCARE YOUR PETS

license

about

al Riggs Durham, North Carolina

Sad Songs For, About, And Written By Birds

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact al Riggs

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

al Riggs recommends:

Sauna
by Mount Eerie

Phil makes sometimes quiet, sometimes ear shattering, always pretty and dense records and this one is no different. As big as all outdoors and as small as a small wooden shack, as to be expected. al Riggs
go to album
Uyai
by Ibibio Sound Machine

Dance to this all night and then the morning and then the afternoon until your legs turn to noodles or the landlord starts a-knocking on your floor/their ceiling with a broom. Whichever happens first. al Riggs
go to album
The World Is A Loud Place
by Landlady

Landlady live is a force of nature, on record they are just as gorgeous and anxious as they are in the Flesh World. More Nervous Energy for those who like tremendous drumming and proper earworms. al Riggs
go to album

If you like al Riggs, you may also like:

Songs for Pierre Chuvin
by the Mountain Goats

supported by 23 fans who also own “Hell House”

Any given album from the Mountain Goats is a genuinely unique experience and this is certainly no exception. :) alanking
go to album
The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 1 and 2
by the Mountain Goats

supported by 21 fans who also own “Hell House”

This song is an anthem for me. I will survive out of spite to those that don't want me to. remmy4warlord
go to album
Haven
by Emma Geiger

The wonderfully understated folk songs on the new EP from Emma Geiger recall the best of The Softies and early Mary Lou Lord. Bandcamp New & Notable May 9, 2022
go to album