Hiding Behind Sound is the psychologically accurate songwriting and recording alias of the drummer Sammi Niss, a long-time fixture on the Hudson valley music scene and a founding member of the bands Battle Ave., American Film History, and Frankie & His Fingers. Sammi has toured and recorded with Laura Stevenson, Matt Pond PA, Pelican Movement, and many others. Hiding Behind Sound’s debut full length, ‘Words Escape,’ was written and recorded before, during, and after her treatment for stage IV non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Co-produced with Kevin McMahon (Titus Andronicus, Real Estate, Widowspeak), ‘Words Escape’ was performed almost entirely by Sammi. The hurt cool of the songwriting and the unvarnished vocals suggest the influence of Jeff Tweedy and the The Velvet Underground; the lavish guitar arrangements and tidal dynamics belong more to the tradition of Radiohead and post-rock. It is music reverberant and turbulent, knowing and naive. The depth and assurance of the arrangements contrast with the innocence of the singing, its sense of “first voice.” She just calls it “space twang.”

http://hidingbehindsound.bandcamp.com