Watch This: The Hushabyes Debut on Lindsey Verrill’s New New Sincerity Label

The Hushabyes' new Jordan Moser-directed video for "Sleep" (Courtesy of New New Sincerity)

The Hushabyes may be the most aptly named band in Austin, at least judging from their debut single “Sleep.”

The song, with a music video premiering below, leads the band’s debut EP, Music Box. A secret album release show takes place tonight, October 19, in South Austin at the Mystical Mound (details here) along with Jordan Moser and Little Mazarn. Led by Jenny Carson, the Hushabyes rely equally on the soft harmonies of Caitlin Palmer and Rockyanne Bullwinkel.

It’s a project that Carson has long had in mind and finally began exploring when her previous band Warm Sugar stopped performing.

“These songs are very special to me,” offers Carson. “I live with chronic pain, and one of the more difficult things to manage is the isolation. Writing harmonies is as much a coping skill as it is pleasure. I knew I wanted to hear the parts with other voices, and I needed to connect with people.

“Rocky and Caitlin are so much more than bandmates. We really care about each other. The Hushabyes is as much their project as it is mine. Rocky and Caitlin have said on multiple occasions that singing together is restorative. I think it takes us out of our heads for a little while and helps us divert more attention to what is going on in our hearts.”

Music Box also represents the debut of a local tape label, New New Sincerity. Little Mazarn’s Lindsey Verrill, a longtime lynchpin within the Austin folk scene known for organizing shows and playing in numerous outfits like the McMercy Family Band, heads up the effort. She was inspired to start her own imprint by Little Mazarn’s work with Philadelphia-based Dear Life Records, supporters of acts like MJ Lenderman and Natalie Jane Hill.

“It’s something I have always wanted to do, but [I] felt like I couldn’t offer much to artists without having a lot of money,” Verrill says over email. “[Dear Life] showed me that you do not have to have a trust fund to bring together musicians you love under an imprint and make stuff happen. And a tape label! The dream.

“The tapes are for my inner child, the music is for everyone who wants to get Sincere,” she adds, acknowledging the label’s link to the Eighties Austin alternative scene dubbed New Sincerity.

“Once someone told me, all the musicians you play with in Austin are just so SINCERE. I love the idea of describing music as sincere, it’s like being hopelessly genuine and authentic. Even though I don’t think that we (Little Mazarn) or the artists that I intend to work with with NNS necessarily sound like New Sincerity bands of the 80’s, the thread of absolute dedication to capital-S Sincerity definitely vibes.”

The Hushabyes’ Music Box was recorded with Sean Giddings and Sam Kossler, with Britton Beisenherz providing final touches at Ramble Creek Studio. For the video, Carson called upon fellow songwriter Jordan Moser to direct and help capture the song’s ethereal feel. The clip unfurls a gorgeous but ominous dreamscape, at once comforting and uncanny.

“I wanted a sinister sandman, and then I stumbled upon an incredible papier-mâché moon mask, and it all kind of fell into place after that,” offers Carson. “We tried to make it feel like an episode of The Twilight Zone. She’s stuck in a dream, and things get weird. It was a night in Elgin none of us will forget – especially the neighbors watching and laughing from their front porch.”

Watch the Hushabyes’ video for “Sleep” below.