BUFFALO HUNT
buffalo hunt - addicted to reality (wav) download
biography
Recorded under the moniker Buffalo Hunt, Ambitions of Ambiguity, the solo debut by Austin-based singer-songwriter Stephanie Hunt, is the sort of record that’s easy to love on first listen—a modern, seamless blend of psychedelic pop, Laurel Canyon-style song craft and midcentury honky-tonk touches. But it’s also music to spend time with. Featuring performances and production by some of the brightest talents of the current Texas scene—the stunningly versatile Texas Gentlemen; Hunt’s fiancé, the acclaimed singer-songwriter Shakey Graves; and drum great McKenzie Smith, to name a few--Ambitions of Ambiguity touts many, many musical and sonic layers; to say it another way, this is a take-a-puff-and-put-on-the-headphones kind of singer-songwriter record. Hunt’s lyrics, which frequently and cleverly upend your expectations or surprise you with metaphor, follow suit.
thoughts on Which one of us
Thoughts about the song from Stephanie Hunt AKA Buffalo Hunt:
I love soundscapes and complex orchestration but there is an undeniable pleasure to singing and hearing a country duet. This song is the outlier on the album and one of my favorites. Also of course it’s always fun to sing a love song about unrequited love with the love of your life. As far as we may wander we love being from Texas…
I love soundscapes and complex orchestration but there is an undeniable pleasure to singing and hearing a country duet. This song is the outlier on the album and one of my favorites. Also of course it’s always fun to sing a love song about unrequited love with the love of your life. As far as we may wander we love being from Texas…
thoughts on addicted to reality
“Ya know, the feeling when the potentiality of all things requires not needing predict the future- but it is so hard not to try.”
Thoughts about the song from Stephanie Hunt AKA Buffalo Hunt:
The idea of being ‘addicted to reality’ is basically the compulsive obsession of worrying about things I cannot control. Ya know, the feeling when the potentiality of all things requires not needing to predict the future- but it is so hard not to try. Well, one night when I was especially riled up about future projections, I stopped to give my mind some space and the first lines of the song came to me like an antidote.
The difference between what I know and what I see
Is only where I wanna be
There is a liminal space between knowing and not knowing that is so hard to find but I know that I always want to find that kind of surrender. Needless to say, this song was written Pre-Covid, when schedules were much more of a source of stress. That the song is coming out now, as we all are returning to the world of plans seems very fitting. I think now the song, especially the ending about moving in reverse has taken on a whole new meaning. Maybe before it would have appeared more of an obtuse idea to be addicted to our realities- but since everyone has at least had a taste of what it feels to free fall in time perhaps the song will offer some more pointed reflection.
It’s not comfortable to wonder who you are without what you do in the world, but for me it was very healthy to have the space to rehab (to extend the metaphor) my mind and identity to enjoy life as it happens rather than as I want to make it happen. The hope now is that in returning to events and social structures it is not out of needing to be busy but wanting to do things that I make my commitments.
And so dear listener, I hope you enjoy this song of strife and relief filled with melodies and harmonies as you figure out how you want to relate to your constructed reality.