Zach Hurd's Musical Path to Creating Bay Ledges

Maine is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of contemporary electro-indie music. But that’s where Zach Hurd found himself when he initially came up with the solo project that would eventually evolve into Bay Ledges. Hurd had more of a singular guitar-based, singer-songwriter approach to music at first; it was only after leaving the Pine Tree State that he really cut his teeth and developed his sample-heavy sound in the eclectic New York City and Los Angeles scenes.

“I’m more connected to the L.A. scene, because that’s just where I officially started Bay Ledges, but now I feel like I’m a person of no real scene,” Hurd, who moved back to Maine three years ago, says with a laugh. “When I started the project, it was very much a passion project, where I can try out sounds and messing around with samples and stuff like that.”

But in NYC and L.A., he took advantage of being around so many musicians and creatives, often playing open-mic nights whenever he could.

“It was definitely what I needed at that time. I was just craving to learn, and moving to New York was a great experience, just to be around more people who are starting studios and were much better songwriters than I was,” he explains. “Just having the ability to go to the Lower East Side and go to an open mic every night of the week at the beginning — it’s so humbling. There’s like a sea of musicians there. It was definitely an education.”

Once he settled into the City of Angels, he used Ableton music software and released early Bay Ledges material on SoundCloud. “I had gotten really bored with my songwriting and guitar. Just my voice and guitar — those two things felt like that’s all I was doing. Ableton gave me a new tool set,” he explains. “Then having the ability to throw songs up quickly [on Soundcloud] and get a response was really helpful. … I was so inspired moving to L.A. I feel like it was just the perfect place at the perfect time for me. It’s funny, I’m from Maine, but I still do feel like a little bit of an outsider in that scene.”

No matter where Bay Ledges is from, though, the music has resonated well beyond the farthest corners of the country. He's been on the road more to bring to audiences his mix of chopped-up guitar lines, playful beats and manipulated vocals that make for soulful, glitchy songs with a feeling of nostalgia.

Bringing Bay Ledges to the stage wasn't something Hurd initially thought much about when he was starting out in 2015. His initial attitude was "I’m just going to have as much fun as I can and not really think too much about how I would do this live," he says. "When you start thinking in those terms, you start putting parameters on what you want to try and what you won’t try. In the beginning, I was not seeing a long road ahead in terms of where the project was going to go. Now I play out with a drummer for live shows."

And not just any live show. Bay Ledges, which now includes Brooklyn-based drummer Kyle Kelly-Yahner live, will open for Trevor Hall at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Sunday, April 20. The California Honeydrops are also on the bill. Hurd and Kelly-Yahner have also played L.A.’s Greek Theatre and the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas on the current run.

Hurd admits that early Bay Ledges shows were a bit chaotic; he employed five musicians on stage in an attempt to re-create all the sounds he mixes together, but he’s since synthesized it down to two players. Still, a live Bay Ledges show hits different.

“The approach to live shows is really just the two of us, so it’s like, how much ground can we cover? A big thing for me up there is that I love dancing and being as free as I can be. It’s trying to find ways to be free and in the moment up there. That’s definitely been an evolution with the project,” Hurd says.

While the set list is generally the same each concert, Hurd clarifies that at “every show, there’s a lot of improvising happening, in terms of little moments throughout the set,” and “there’s definitely more energy live than in the recordings."

“With the dancing, I never really know what I’m going to do. … I think that’s the major component, which I think is how it tends to be when you go and see a show,” he says, adding that the Red Rocks show is probably “going to be a lot of me dancing and going nuts. We’re both so excited for this show. It kind of feels like the show of this tour that I think all of us have been waiting for.”

After the release of Hurd's debut album, Ritual, last year, fans haven’t had to wait long for new music; Bay Ledges released the single “Sylvia (Nanana)” on April 21. He likens his style and songwriting process to that of Beck and Dust Brothers, and the latest offering is in the same vein.

“This song is an example of me having fun in the studio. I think also an example of the collage-like production. It’s kind of bits and pieces of a couple ideas I had, and then they slowly kind of came together,” he says, adding that he really just hopes that what he’s doing with Bay Ledges “feels inventive.”

Bay Ledges, 6 p.m. Sunday, April 30, Red Rocks Ampitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets are $75-$448.