Music By Text: How The Kind Hills Work As An Internationally Separated Band

Normally, you’d expect members of a band to live near each other. Perhaps in the same city… and definitely the same country. The Kind Hills subvert that expectation. From LA, to Hong Kong, to London, to Brisbane - the members of this dreamy indie pop band are separated by mountains, sea, and international borders. But they’ve made certain that won’t stop them.

Meeting at university while on international exchange in Perth around a decade ago, the members of The Kind Hills - Martin (Brisbane, Australia), Roman (Lucerne, Switzerland), Chase (Hong Kong), Jessica (London, UK), Brett (Perth, Australia), and Bea (Los Angeles, USA) - stayed in touch, connected by their love of music. 

But it wasn’t until 2020, when Roman was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, that the concept of The Kind Hills came to be.

“It kind of started because Roman was sick, and he desperately wanted to have projects to put him in a better place. And it basically gave him hope. He couldn't do much. He was just  watching movies and doing random things. And then he kind of came up with the idea to start writing songs. So he actually wrote like 60 songs in the next couple of years. So that’s how it started,” Martin explained.

Despite living across the world from each other, Roman and Martin spearhead the group’s efforts, writing and recording The Kind Hills’ songs together… over text.

“It’s so weird. We only text. We've never called, we've never zoomed, and we've never even chatted. It's so funny. I mentioned it maybe a year ago, saying, ‘Hey, maybe you should call soon’, and he said, ‘Yeah, we should’ - but we still haven't called each other. But we text. We text every single day, like big text messages,” Martin laughed.

“Sometimes I just record a melody, you know, sometimes I'm just in the bathroom, and I have an idea, and then I sing it and send it to him, and he sends stuff back, and it’s just kind of an ongoing thing.”

It’s not a normal recording set up for the band either. With all the members spread out across the globe, it’s almost impossible to get everyone into a studio together. So, they simply don’t.

“Because of the kind of setting we have, we don't go into a studio. It's basically home recording. We’ve got good stuff, you know - throughout the years, we’ve picked up quite an amount of things. So how it works is, I often just record an idea, just on acoustic guitar, and I sing and send it to Roman and he says, ‘Oh, yeah, that's cool. We should do something with it.’ And then he might start a drum track. He sends it back to me, and I might record the guitar.

“And then occasionally, you know, we say, ‘Oh, Brett, can you think about the drums in this part?’ And then we need some backing vocals. ‘All right, let's call Jess’, and she's just backing vocals for that song.”

As much as the back-and-forth of the recording process can get finicky, Martin enjoys it: “It's a really nice way to kind of work on songs. I've never done it like that. And, you know, usually, you go to a practice room and you jam and somebody's got an idea and then you jam around it. But this is totally different. Usually the person who comes with the idea already has the structure and some ideas about certain things, so it's more thought out. It’s just different, but it's really good fun.”

And what’s more fun than releasing a song every month? The Kind Hills seem to agree. For most of 2024, that’s how the band has been releasing singles - dropping one on the last day of each month. 

“We thought that it's just something different, and it's just kind of another reason to stay in touch as well. Roman and I are going through things and it’s just a fun thing for us. And, you know, we love kind of hassling our friends, saying, ‘Have you listened to this month's song?’ It's just a fun thing,” Martin said.

This month’s song, set to drop tomorrow (December 31), is titled Strong Woman. And, according to the band, it’s a “love song dedicated to every powerhouse woman we’ve met.”

“Gone are the days when a strong woman was somehow a threat to ‘manhood’. In fact, if someone else's success leaves you feeling ‘emasculated’, it might be time for such dudes and bros out there to redefine what makes a man truly strong. Having someone by your side who’s better and more successful at things isn’t a weakness; it’s smart teamwork. So, for the guys who’ve still got one foot stuck in the past: take a deep breath and embrace the power of a strong partner,” The Kind Hills wrote in a press release.

"Strong Woman celebrates the kind of relationship that lifts you up — where you don’t just survive, but thrive with someone who makes you better, bolder, and maybe even... a little less of a knucklehead!”