Brian Holl and Eric Hilliman are learning to say "yes" the right way.
Together as the duo Foreign Fields, Holl and Hilliman have been learning as they've been crafting, a creative journey that's taken them from their earliest days as a young band following the industry's typical script toward "success" to their present position of feeling more permission than ever. It's been a series of experiences teaching them how to discern how to "yes" the right way—and what to be willing to walk away from.
If this all sounds a bit vague, we can let the duo speak for themselves, but Foreign Fields' music is all the better for eschewing some of the pressures of the marketplace for the sake of following their own interests and forging their own path. What It Cost is the band's most recent LP and provided a real turning point for the music, but the tunes they're wrapping up now are moving them even further down this path toward sonic freedom.
We recently sat down with Foreign Fields to hear more about the learning curve and where the trajectory might take them next.
Analogue: We've talked over the years, but I think the first time goes back to the first record. It's been quite the journey from those days. How do you feel comparing the space you're in now and that early version of Foreign Fields?
Brian Holl: I feel like we've entered a new phase, and it's twofold.
First, on the creative side, we had an album that we finished right before the pandemic, The Beauty of Survival, which came out in March 2020—literally as everything was shutting down. We thought of that album as the third book in a trilogy, our third record, and it felt like we were closing a chapter on what Foreign Fields had been. There was a throughline between all our previous records, but with that album, it felt like we were shutting the door on that era.
The record we released in October didn’t have that same continuity—either thematically or musically—with our earlier material. The goal this time was simply to create a band record. We brought in longtime collaborators Nick Morawiecki and Nate Babbs earlier in the process, but there was no deliberate connection to past material or ideas. And now, we’re about to leave in a couple of weeks—not to start our next album, but to almost finish it. And again, I don’t think it has any throughline with our previous work. At least for now, we’ve realized that we can treat each project as its own individual thing.
"Over the last several years, our relationship with our own project has become much healthier than it was back in the day. That change has come from us really figuring out what we actually want to do."
Analogue: What was the second part?
Eric Hilliman: The second major shift is that we've changed partners a couple of times. We signed with a new label. There are changes happening in our publishing. We have a new manager. So it all feels very different from 2013 or 2014.
To zoom out a bit, when we spoke in 2013, we were still supporting our first record—the first time anyone had really cared about what we were doing. We had made music for a while before that, but that record set our career in motion. Back then, we were following the momentum in whatever way we could, doing everything we were "supposed" to be doing. It felt like, “OK, you wanted to be a band—here’s what that actually means,” with a lot of external voices guiding our path.
By around 2016, though, that momentum and those expectations came to a head. A couple of years after our initial interview, we started to move away from the idea of being a traditional band and pushing that lifestyle. A lot of factors played into that—personally, I had a child in 2014, and that changed things. As Brian alluded to, we eventually realized that this way of operating wasn’t good for us—not musically, but in terms of lifestyle. So the question became: How do we reframe this so we can keep making music for the rest of our lives—without it being detrimental to our well-being?
Back in 2013, being a band was everything. But in the years since, we've shifted our focus. I’ve been doing video game scoring, studio work, and production, while Brian has pursued solo projects. We've stepped away from much of the industry side—touring, performing—and instead concentrated on the creative process itself.
That shift has led us to where we are now: continuing to make records, approaching each one as a unique statement of what we want to create at that moment. Our musical output has broadened so much that Foreign Fields is no longer our entire identity. It’s more of an experimental project these days, which gives us the freedom to explore and evolve without constraints.
Analogue: Is this a healthier creative space for you today than it was in your past?
Brian: Yeah, definitely. I think so. Yeah.
Eric: I think so—definitely. Over the last several years, our relationship with our own project has become much healthier than it was back in the day. That change has come from us really figuring out what we actually want to do.
It’s been about understanding that and saying yes to what excites us, rather than just doing what’s expected. I think that’s a big reason why we’re still having this conversation—why we’re still making music. At a certain point, we realized that if we didn’t change the way we approached things—our relationship with our music—we probably wouldn’t still be doing this.
If we had to keep working the way we did back then, it just wouldn’t have been sustainable. But over time, by maintaining our own sense of direction, we’ve been able to keep going. Obviously, that was a long time ago—we’ve been doing this for a while now. And it’s only through that process that we’ve been able to stick around, continue creating things that excite us, and keep music as a meaningful part of our lives.
Brian: The other thing I want to add is that, for me, there’s an element—not exactly pressure, and not exactly accountability—but just an awareness that people are still listening and responding.
I’ve done other projects, as Eric mentioned—not just in music, but in other creative and non-creative spaces. And with those, it’s entirely up to you. You have to bring all the inspiration and find 100% of the motivation to keep going.
But knowing that people are still listening, that they still care, that they check in and ask, 'Hey, when’s the next release?'—that really helps keep things moving forward for me. It’s not everything, but having that little external push, that reminder that people still want to hear what we’re making, definitely makes a difference.
Analogue: You mentioned having the new music. I'd love just to get a snapshot of the creative space you're in right now, the musical space you're in right now. Like what are you most excited about sonically that you're into, like with the set of songs you're working with?
Brian: For me, it’s pretty simple. It’s this inspirational, sunny-sky feeling—like early 2000s trip-hop, with drum break samples. If that makes sense. It makes perfect sense in my head, but—well, maybe it’s more like a dusky sky.
One thing we knew coming off the back of this band record was that we wanted to go in the opposite direction. It was like, 'Okay, we did that—now we’re not doing another band record. So what do we want to do next?' And somehow, even when Brian and I haven’t talked in a while—haven’t discussed making a new record—we always seem to land on the same vision. I guess that just comes from 20 years of working together.
Right now, creatively, we’re really inspired by early trip-hop—late ’90s and early 2000s stuff. Lots of samples, breakbeats, that quasi-acoustic vibe.
Analogue: Like, Portishead?
Brian: Yeah, that kind of thing. Early Björk, Massive Attack—but not quite as dark. It also has hints of that early 2000s hopefulness—the kind you hear in early David Gray or Coldplay. That era just feels so nostalgic now. Pre-9/11 music, we’ll call it. There was a different kind of optimism in music back then.
Analogue: It was earnest, right?
Brian: Yes, an earnest quality. So we've been really exploring that. And I mean, as of late, for me personally, I’ve been getting very, very heavily into a lot of electronic music, especially a lot of dance music—house and techno and stuff like that. So a lot of that, I’m sure, is making its way into what we’ve done. There’s always been little electronic flourishes in our records but I think there’s. More this time around than there has been before. We’re definitely dabbling and experimenting more in that space than we have in the past.
VISIT: Foreign Fields
Photo: Mitch Buss
