Tacoma’s Kye Alfred Hillig Announces New Album, Shares Alt-Country Single “Ezekiel Bobbing For Apples
Tacoma, Washington songwriter Kye Alfred Hillig returns with “Ezekiel Bobbing For Apples,” the new single arriving January 7, 2026, and the first release from his upcoming album The All-Night Costume Company, due March 4. Built around haunting guitar leads and striking male-female harmonies that nod to the emotional gravity of classic country duets like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, the track introduces Hillig at his most direct and melodic. It sits between alternative-country and indie rock, carrying the tension and plainspoken urgency of a songwriter raised on punk rooms rather than polish.
Hillig has spent more than two decades working the margins of the Puget Sound music scene, balancing songwriting with the realities of work, responsibility, and long stretches outside the spotlight. Since stepping fully into his solo work in 2012, he’s released a deep catalog of records defined by sharp hooks and lyrical candor. His songs often land where discomfort and dark humor overlap, more interested in honesty than resolution. Fans of Father John Misty, The Jayhawks, and early-era The Shins will recognize the instinct for narrative and melody, even as Hillig’s voice and perspective remain distinctly his own.
“Ezekiel Bobbing For Apples” moves with restless intent. The arrangement is lean but charged, guitars circling and cutting while the rhythm section pushes steadily forward. The blend of voices adds weight rather than gloss, creating moments of tension and release that feel earned instead of ornamental. Lyrically, the song sits with a kind of open-eyed vulnerability. “It’s really a bit of singing up from the bottom of the well,” Hillig says. “Everything feels kind of screwed and hopeless at times, but the message is I am with you. There’s something freeing about saying that out loud.” Shaped by years of DIY spaces and unvarnished rooms, the song carries a quiet defiance, even as it stretches into broader country and indie-rock forms. It never pauses to second-guess itself.
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Recorded at Ex Ex Studios in Seattle, the single was produced and mixed by Johnny Nails, capturing a band fully engaged and alert. Organ, guitar, and percussion interlock with purpose, giving the track momentum without crowding it. The production stays close to the bone, favoring feel and clarity over shine, and leaving space for Hillig’s vocal delivery to carry the song’s emotional weight. All-Night Costume Company, Hillig’s ninth solo album, arrives March 4, 2026. “Ezekiel Bobbing For Apples” serves as its opening move, not a reinvention, but a reentry. It’s the sound of a songwriter stepping back into the frame with focus, a sharpened sense of purpose, and a song comfortable leaving a little unresolved.
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