House To Home

Music is a medium naturally used to transmit messages and emotion. It should come as no surprise that there are many ways to transmit these elements to the listener. Micah Lindsey of the local band House to Home polishes this expression with his style of songwriting.

"Music is the one thing that I can always fall back on," Lindsey said.

Lindsey is the visionary and musical wunderkind of House to Home. The musical and lyrical compositions come primarily from Lindsey's songbook. Although his songs are all his doing, his singer-songwriter approach is open to collaboration with fellow musicians.

"He wants me to put more of my own influence in it," said Austin Harrell, who is a frequent collaborator of Lindsey's. "I brought my own outside influences, and I am able to incorporate them in it."

The revolving contributors of House to Home range from Harrell to the "Happy Choir," which consists of his family members. These contributions were made both on the newly released EP and during live performances.

"I try to put my two cents in, it helps evolve the whole band," Harrell said.

When performing live, Lindsey has the option of playing shows solo or with a full line-up. Depending on the climate of the venue and band scheduling, House to Home performs as a full group as much as they can.

After the demise of his former band You're So Unreliable in 2006, Lindsey started writing music as a way to keep exercising his songwriting skills. With plans to return to the music scene, he wrote many acoustic numbers that he eventually planned to release.

"As soon as the last band broke up I knew I wanted to put out another EP. It was only a matter of time," Lindsey said.

His acoustic indie-riddled sound was well received by close relatives and friends, and in 2007 Lindsey and company began recording and planning the release of House to Home's music. Six of the songs he wrote were decisively chosen, and put on his first release as House to Home "The Whole" EP.

"I played them for my family and friends and we kind of agreed those were the best ones at the time to put on there," Lindsey said.

The hardcopy of "The Whole" EP was self-released April 15. With a concentration on simple sweet heartland instrumentation and heavy lyricism, House to Home creates atmospheres of happiness, nostalgia and a sundry of other thoughts within their release.

The most identifying element of House to Home's music is the storytelling style of lyrics Lindsey writes. As opposed to using confessional and abstract implied lyrics, Lindsey prefers to tell near-direct stories with his music.

"I do like tell stories, because with fictional writings, you have the option to make anything you want up," Lindsey said.

When listening to his music one can almost picture the written words like the scenes of a movie or a book. In some cases, it may be fair to dub his brand of music as lit-rock (Literature Rock).

"He has these really vivid images that you normally don't hear in music, it's more like reading a book," Harrell said.

Although his writing is straightforward and direct, Lindsey said, like anything else in art, there is still room for audiences to make up their own interpretations.

"The one thing I do strive for in music is for people to be able to relate it to themselves and put it to their own lives," Lindsey said.

In his most popular tune "Bound for Happiness," Lindsey wishfully-sings Raise up your glasses, everyone's happy. Lindsey laughs because the song is commonly mistaken as a drinking song, just one interpretation made by many.

"It's about just having a good time and letting go," Lindsey said. "Everyone just assumes its alcohol; I didn't even have that in mind when I was writing it."

House to Home's songs can be either complete imaginative creations or personal compositions.

The track "Arizona" is almost entirely story bound. It speaks about two disheartened people finding each other and connecting because of certain tribulations they are going through at the time, Lindsey said.

Nearly all tracks are in a story format, but they can often be loosely based on experiences and observations made by Lindsey.

The last song on the EP "Breathe" hits closer to home with its lyrics. The tale journals a situation his long-time friend told him about when he was in a relationship. Lindsey took the story and elaborated on it.

Lindsey and House to Home will continue to promote the EP by playing shows, spreading their music and writing music. There are also future plans for a summer tour. - The Prospector