Edgehill’s Ode to the Greyhouse Is Just the Beginning

BY: JESSE ZAPATERO

Edgehill arrive with the kind of raw immediacy that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly new. The Nashville trio—Chris, Jake, and Aidan—first came together through late-night basement jam sessions, slowly building a sound that blends the fuzzed-out spirit of ‘90s alt-rock with the restless curiosity of a new generation. That chemistry has already translated into real momentum: their breakout single Doubletake has surged up the Alternative radio chart, currently sitting at No. 6, while helping propel the band past 14 million global streams and into the spotlight as one of indie rock’s most promising new acts

Photographer: Savanna Ruedy, Producer + Interview: Jesse Zapatero, Stylist: Oththan Burnside, Grooming: Christopher Miles

Their debut album, Ode to the Grey House, captures the emotional push and pull that defines the band. Written inside the East Nashville house where members lived and isolated themselves during long writing stretches, the record reflects the contradictions of young adulthood—moments of despair colliding with humor, restlessness, and friendship. That duality pulses throughout the album’s loud, distortion-laced anthems and more introspective moments, echoing the spirit of ’90s alternative while carving out a voice that feels distinctly their own.

Now, as Edgehill get ready to bring the record to audiences on the road, the band finds itself at the start of a new chapter—one that’s already stretching far beyond its humble beginnings. If the emotional whiplash of Ode to the GreyHouse is any indication, Edgehill aren’t interested in staying in one lane—they’re chasing the kind of unpredictability that made so many people fall in love with bands in the first place. And judging by the momentum behind “Doubletake,” the world is starting to listen.

I just want to congratulate you guys on everything right now. It's been really exciting watching the momentum build from Doubletake climbing on the radio to getting ready to release your debut album, Ode to the GreyHouse. What does that title represent for you guys, and how does it frame the album as a whole?
Jake: Me and Chris lived together in a grey house in East Nashville and it's where we spent a lot of our time writing and demoing out this album. We kind of hold ourselves away and almost like a self-mandated quarantine and just like we're isolated. We spent a lot of time going stir crazy and going through our emotions. There's a lot of contradiction in the album and a lot of wanting to get better and not knowing how to, a lot of goofiness and a lot of despair and it all sort of felt like those emotions lived at this place. it became a metaphorical place, like wouldn't it be nice if you could just step outside and see the color in the world, but you're locking yourself in this sort of gray closet instead.and that sort of just became an accidental theme throughout the album. So it felt appropriate to call it that.

You know, as a debut album, there's often this... pressure to introduce yourself correctly, right? Did that expectation influence any creative decisions or did you actively try to ignore the fact that this is sort of like an introduction to the world?

Chris: I think that the only way that we were really conscious about introducing ourselves to the world was just that we really wanted to be consistent. Not necessarily the sounds themselves or even being worried about what we really want to be portrayed as.. It was more just like, whatever we want this first project to be a real cohesive project that is like all the albums that we love in the sense that it sounds like it was made in the same place and it has consistent tones and feels like an album.

Jake: I think there was also definitely a conscious effort in our rollout. We chose some songs as singles that maybe are not traditional single choices because we had some moments on this album that we were really proud of in terms of how it represented us or maybe some weirder artistic choices. and they didn't make traditional single choices, but we really wanted to show them to the world before the album came out. So that definitely influenced the order of the songs we put out and wanting people to hear a more complete vision and not just the singles first.

When you started working on the record, did you guys already have a clear sonic or emotional vision or did it reveal itself as the songs all came together?

Aidan:  When we were writing, I think the best part about this process that was different was we started to demo ourselves at the Greyhouse with each other. So I think while we were writing, the tones and the shape and mood of the songs kind of came together then. By the time that we got to the recording process, we kind of already knew what we were going for.

How do you know when a song feels finished versus when it needs to be pushed a bit further?

Jake: I feel like you don't. I mean, part of the fun and challenge of recording this album is we did it in 11 days in sort of a remote location in the middle of nowhere in Minnesota.And so we had those 11 days to get them done and recorded.

I found myself playing this album on repeat, but I also kept really going back to the specific track, which made me really excited to ask you about it. The song LOL despite the title, the song feels emotionally heavy. Lowkey, I got a tear and I kept going back until I jumped on this call with you all. I love that song so much, but why did you choose that title? It's so emotional.

Chris: One of my favorite things about writing in general is your intention isn't always how it's perceived and how people like the way that something hits someone can be completely irrelevant to the reason you did something. The reason I'm saying that now is because in this instance, I made that song on my laptop, before we fully recorded it. And it was pretty produced out.. And then I was, it was 4 or 5 in the morning. And I just had to export it and I didn't have a name yet. So I just typed LOL and hit enter. I guess there was some sort of not taking myself seriously when just naming it that I just didn't really feel like I had a name or anything yet. It was not that deep. I really just wanted to title it something. So I titled it LOL. And then when I sent the file. It just felt right, like we can't change that.

Jake: I feel like if you titled it something really emotional or something, it would almost be like too much.
Chris: There's kind of a certain nonchalantness with titling it, LOL, like whatever, yeah here's the name, I don't want you to have some preconceived, notion of what the song is by like some super deep name.

I've been playing the album and I don't really look at the title. So when I finally sat down and looked at the title, we got LOL, and then we went straight into Love To Go, and I love that song too, but you jumped from a song like LOL that's really emotionally heavy to a song that's fun, like Love To Go. What was the reasoning for that?

Aidan: It goes back to a lot of the emotion behind the album. A whiplash of emotions coming together. one day feeling sad, one moment feeling happy and just being stupid with friends.Like a slap in the face of, oh, now we're going this way, and it's a lot more energetic, which kind of happened when we're in the process of writing.

Chris: We have spent way more time building set lists with intention than we have like building tracklists for anything and I think that like that has played a role in the sequencing of the album like I think we just had LOL and like okay it's it's low - you don't want to keep this for too long we want to bring people back into it so hit him with Love To Go and and again I was like kind of unintentionally it was like LOL is the serious song and then Love To Go is literally the most unserious song other than I Can Be Your Dog that that we have so it just felt right. 

Jumping to one of the hottest songs on the radio right now, “Double Take.” It’s been climbing pretty fast on the radio. Did you sense early on that it was different, or did its success surprise you

Jake: The cool thing about that song is that we had a bunch of the album already written before we finished that song. When we started putting it all together that song felt like the center piece. We weren’t really sure how all the songs we were writing fit together and it felt like right in the spectrum of all the songs. We knew it was special because it connected all of the different things we were trying to do at that time. We didn’t know if it was going to be successful or anything but it definitely felt special to us immediately. 

Did the response to the song affect you all’s confidence going into the rollout?

Chris:  Definitely, having something hit before the album comes out relieves some stress and some worry about the album. 

Aidan: I think it helped that it was that song because just like jake said it was the song that connects this whole album. And it feels great that the best representation of this album is the song that people are hearing the most. 

Now that this debut chapter is out into the world, how do you think you guys as a band will continue evolving? 

Jake: Probably make something completely different. It’s not even fully out yet, but people are already making musical comparisons or assumptions about the type of music we make.

I’m very proud of this album and this era, but I’m also excited to push the boundaries and see how different we can make the next album.

Chris: Another thing we’ve realized is that the most special stuff is often the most raw and not overthought.

I’m excited to sit down and write again, let ideas come out naturally, and allow the circumstances around them to guide us. We want it to feel fresh and new, but the best way to do that is by following our gut and letting our brains just spill ideas out.

When you’re writing songs, the messages often feel universal. How do you balance personal storytelling with writing something that still connects with listeners?

Jake: Thank you. That’s a high compliment. I don’t think it’s intentional for me.If you write about things that are really important to you and get to the heart of them, they tend to resonate with other people. If you miss that mark, the details might feel too specific to you. But if you’re getting at the truth of something, no matter how specific you are, it will speak to other people on some level.

Now that you’ve been on the road and shared the stage with established bands, what lessons have you taken from watching them operate?

Chris: We’re constantly learning. For example, we’ve been on the road with Winyah, and they put on an amazing show. Thomas, their lead singer, is an incredible vocalist and guitar player. Seeing that inspires me to improve in as many areas as I can.

Jake: Seeing how comfortable they are on stage is something to aspire to. The more we perform, the more comfortable we get being ourselves on stage. It’s refreshing to see people do it with such ease. It makes you feel like we’ll get there too.

Aidan: Sometimes it’s easier to hide behind a character on stage. But seeing people just be themselves onstage makes us want to do that too. It feels genuine to the fans

When I saw you guys at The Goldfish, you seemed confident and seasoned. Has it always been like that, or what was your first show like?

Chris: Our first show we just stood there.

Jake: It definitely hasn’t always been like that. Our first show was a house show in someone’s backyard in Nashville. It was about a month after Chris and I first met and formed the band. We had written two songs and didn’t know how to stand on stage or act. There wasn’t even a stage.

One thing that has stayed the same is that we’ve always had a lot of fun playing to people. People tell us they can see how much fun we’re having. We’re getting more comfortable, but we’re still having the same amount of fun we had at that first show. getting more comfortable, but we're still having the same amount of fun we had from the first show.

For someone hearing your band for the first time, what do you hope they walk away feeling?

Chris: I hope they feel seen, whatever that means to them. I hope they feel a little more comfortable with who they are.

More than anything, I hope someone walks away feeling something strong.

Jake: It’s up to them. That’s the cool thing about putting it out into the world.  Finally it’s not up to us anymore

Aidan: Once people hear it, it becomes theirs.

 Looking ahead to the rest of the year, what excites you most about this next stretch of touring and reaching new listeners?

Aidan: Getting on the road, playing in front of as many people as we can, and putting on good shows. Then writing whatever comes next. We’re excited to see the next chapter.

Jake: We’ve never been on the road for more than a couple weeks at a time, and we have six straight weeks coming up. It will give us a chance to get into a groove, discover more about ourselves as performers, and gather life experiences to write about.

Chris: I’m excited to see what happens during this album’s lifetime—how people interact with it and where it takes us. It’s going to have a life of its own now that it’s out of our hands.

 Now I need to know - If you were a book, what book would you be and why?

Jake: I think I’d be a technical manual or a textbook because I’m always trying to figure out how and why things work—even in music. Put an explanation to things. I like finding patterns in the noise. That’s how I see the world. So I’d be a book that explains how things work.

Chris: On the contrary, I’d be something like the Rick Rubin book or Siddhartha—something about big ideas, feeling, inspiration, and trying to grasp the intangible. That’s also why Jake, Aidan, and I work well together. I operate more in that heady space.

Aidan: I’d probably be something creative or something that dives deeply into random topics. Our tour manager Carolyn gave us books for Christmas that she thought represented us. She gave me The Little Prince, which I thought was cool. It’s about a kid from another planet who wonders about everything and asks questions while trying to figure life out in a philosophical way.