Sink is the new project from Colton Hamilton, who at the end of summer shared his debut album Sinking Stars. Playing guitar with fellow Columbus-mates Villagerrr, Hamilton has been well enveloped in that music scene, touring and recording with friends and collaborators whenever possible. Sinking Stars is hasty and hardy, recorded to a 4-track, that found Hamilton both conscious and explorative in the midst of what’s around him, leaning into the feelings and beings that he takes inspiration from in his day-to-days.

Sinking Stars is both a fresh start and a reflection point for Hamilton as he embraces a type of broken folk structure, one that feels fittingly clumped amongst late night DIY shows, curbside smokes and a passing midwestern prayer. These songs are minimal, with humming melodies that kick a tin can down the road as guitars cover its tracks with grit and charm. But the subtlety in these songs does not get lost in the weeds as Hamilton and co. animate the tiny yet tricky grievances of sitting still for too long. Hamilton’s focused writing is where curiosity and intuition link arms and sincerity and distrust break the hold, capturing that personal triumphant feeling of making it through another rough day while still looking forward to whatever is next.

We recently got to catch Sink at Cole’s Bar in Chicago where we got to talk about the new album, preservation and what’s next.

You just released your debut record under this project, Sink. How does it feel to get it out and about and being able to play some shows?

It just feels good to put something out there, to grease the way for some more albums. I already have another one written and ready to record. I’m just planning on doing the next one on an 8-track machine instead of 4 tracks. It feels good to practice.

You’ve been in the world of Columbus music for a while now, playing often with a lot of people and projects. When did you think this was the time to start your own thing? Did you have any initial goals?

I’ve been writing songs for a while and never really put too many of them out with a focus. But after playing live more with Villagerrr and other bands in Columbus, I just felt more comfortable doing that. I’ve seen my friends do it, so it just felt like a good time. I live in a house where everyone makes music. I just kind of wanted to document that time living in that house. It’s kind of how I view this first tape, my time living in that house. It just felt natural that way.

Were the people living in that house a big component to these recordings? Because you had quite a few contributors to the album.

Yeah, me and four other roommates, we all play music. And then just a street over, a bunch of my friends live who play music too. Zayn and Alec, Cornfed and Villager, they all live close by. It just feels like a tight-knit community right now with people playing in each other’s bands. I just wanted to make something out of that while I’m still there.

So is this your first release of songs that you wrote?

I’ve made a noise project called Western Collateral. It was 40 minutes of feedback between me and my friend over a Zoom call. It was during COVID and we didn’t feel like we could meet up, so we just fed back our guitars in a Zoom microphone for 40 minutes and put it out as an album. 

You recorded everything on a 4-track. What did embracing that simplicity in recording bring out in not just the songs, but in the experience of recording them with your friends that you live with?

I think probably the same thing a lot of people find. You can only have so many takes. Keeping it pretty honest to the moment, if you can. All the mistakes that come along with that. They can’t avoid each other. The mistakes aren’t a part of the whole process, but it’s kind of like a documentation system that you set out to be.

Does that feel fitting in where these songs came from?

Definitely, yeah. I was inspired by a lot of my friends who played on the record. Henry [Schuellerman] on pedal steel was a huge inspiration. I feel like I was writing those songs a lot of times just for pedal steel. He has his own songs out with A-Go-Go. And Alec [Cox] plays bass, and watching him play in Cornfed. Mark [Scott] and Villagerrr, watching him play. Trevor [Hock] too, we wrote some of the songs together on drums. Just feeding off of his energy was an inspiration.

View more photos of Sink by Sarah Franke.

You can listen to Sinking Stars out everywhere now, as well as order a tape via Super Sport Recordings.

Written by Shea Roney | Photos by Sarah Franke