HRISHIKESH HIRWAY’S NEW ALBUM
IN THE LAST HOUR OF LIGHT OUT APRIL 24

FIRST SINGLE “STRAY DOGS” FEATURING IRON & WINE OUT NOW, WATCH VIDEO HERE

‘A CONCERT AND CONVERSATION WITH HRISHIKESH HIRWAY AND SPECIAL GUESTS’ COMING TO LOS ANGELES, CHICAGO, NEW YORK AND MORE, SPECIAL GUESTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

February 18, 2026—Hrishikesh Hirway today announces his new album, In the Last Hour of Light, out April 24 via Keeled Scales— pre-order/pre-save here. The album is his first full-length release under his own name, marking his return to making records after more than a decade focused on audio storytelling through his acclaimed podcast Song Exploder. The album’s first single, “Stray Dogs,” featuring Iron & Wine, is out now—listen/share here and watch the visualizer directed by Sean Stout here.

Hirway has also confirmed a new set of special tour dates: A Concert and Conversation with Hrishikesh Hirway and Special Guests will consist of a moderated talk with a noted guest (musicians, authors, filmmakers, podcast hosts) about his songs and where they came from, followed by a live performance. Special guests will be announced soon. Stops include at Los Angeles’ Pacific Electric, Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, and New York’s Le Poisson Rouge—find full list of dates below, tickets are available now at hrishikesh.co/live. Next week at Brooklyn’s On Air Fest, Hrishi will hold a conversation and performance with Peter Silberman of The Antlers, which will see both trade new songs and stories—tickets are available now here.

The album’s first song, “Stray Dogs,” was written by Hirway as he prepared for a songwriting retreat at Blue Rock Artist Ranch in Wimberley, TX. He’d first gone there a year earlier, for a live taping of Song Exploder with guest Sam Beam of Iron & Wine; as he prepared to return to the same place to work on his own music, he reached out to Beam and asked if he might offer a writing prompt, in case Hirway got stuck one day. Beam suggested, “describe a street you grew up on from the point of view of a stray dog.” It spurred up two memories so potent that Hirway completed the new song before he left for Texas. And to honor the part that Sam Beam played in its creation, Hirway asked if he’d sing on it, as well.

“Iron & Wine has been a massive influence on me since I first heard Sam’s music in 2002,” says Hirway. “I remember playing the song “Bird Stealing Bread” for my mother, and it made her cry. I’d never seen music have that effect on her. It means so much to me that I’ve even had the chance to meet Sam and get to know him a little, so for him to play a part in one of my songs, to hear his voice singing along with mine…it’s incredible.”

In the Last Hour of Light is a deeply personal memoir about letting go; of people, of fading memories, of the desire to stop time. Written in the wake of Hirway’s mother’s death and amidst his father’s hospitalization, the album’s eleven tracks reflect on loss, long shared and fleeting love. As novelist Rachel Khong writes in the accompanying essay, “it’s interested in the moments and people who shape us before they vanish. These songs are about the ephemeral, and about grief in its many facets: the anguish of losing a parent, the possibility of a child, friendships lost to time. This album is about certain events in life that feel so encompassing, so consuming—even impossible to endure—and the unassuming moments, too. It’s about how all of it forms the unique constellation of a person’s life.” The arrangements balance between quiet intimacy and spacious, Americana-tinted soundscapes meant to embrace the imperfection and unexpected qualities of being alive.

The theme of the letting go extended to Hirway’s own historically tight sense of creative control, and he turned to Grammy-nominated producer Phil Weinrobe (Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker), who recorded the album live at his Brooklyn studio, Sugar Mountain. Weinrobe arranged all the players close enough so they could all hear Hirway’s vocals as they recorded, playing without headphones or click track.

After years as the sole writer, producer and performer behind The One AM Radio, Hirway approached this entire record with collaboration in mind. Collaboration was his way out of the years-long writers block that had led him to create the Song Exploder podcast. He co-wrote with Kevin Morby, Vagabon, and others, including Fenne Lily, Ken Pomeroy, and Uwade, who are also featured guest vocalists on the album. On the single released today, Hirway enlisted a world-class band— Josh Crumbly on bass, Oliver Hill on piano, Sean Mullins on drums, Ken Pomeroy on acoustic guitar, El Kempner (of Palehound) on electric guitar, Billy Crockett on resonator guitar, and Cole Kamen-Green on trumpet and EVI.

That band appears throughout the album, along with other performers that include Melina Duterte (of Jay Som), Dustin O’Halloran, Mike Haldeman, Shahzad Ismaily, Jon Natchez (of The War on Drugs), Daniel Hart, and Zosha Warpeha.

It’s a glimpse into the team of world-class musicians and writers he assembled for the project, which also includes contributions from Jenny Owen Youngs, TOMI, John Mark Nelson, and more.

ABOUT HRISHIKESH HIRWAY

Hrishikesh Hirway has been producing music for over two decades; his EP Rooms I Used to Call My Own was released in March 2022, and he composed the original score for the 2025 thriller Companion. His music career first began in the early 2000s with his solo project The One AM Radio, and later with MOORS, a collaboration with Oscar-nominated actor and rapper Lakeith Stanfield. He’s the host, creator, and executive producer of Song Exploder, an award-winning podcast and a Netflix original television series, where musicians tell the story of the creative process behind one of their songs. Hirway will receive iHeartMedia’s 2026 Icon Innovator Award at this year’s SXSW for his “visionary approach to storytelling” through the podcast.

Hirway additionally produced and co-hosted the award-winning podcasts Home Cooking, with chef and author Samin Nosrat; and The West Wing Weekly, with actor Joshua Malina.

For more information, please contact Krista Williams, Christopher Emond or Carla Sacks at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000.

IN THE LAST HOUR OF LIGHT TRACK LIST
1. Stray Dogs (feat. Iron & Wine)
2. Dark Circles (feat. Fenne Lily)
3. Rollercoaster
4. Things Change, Even Now
5. The Ocean (feat. Uwade)
6. Big Sky (feat. Ken Pomeroy)
7. Charlie, Short for Charlotte
8. When I Look At You
9. Your Voice (feat. Ken Pomeroy)
10. Swimming Pool
11. Home Movies

TOUR DATES
A CONCERT AND CONVERSATION WITH
HRISHIKESH HIRWAY AND SPECIAL GUESTS

February 26 /// Brooklyn, NY /// On Air Fest
/ Screening Room at Wythe Hotel
April 22 /// Austin, TX /// 3TEN
May 14 /// Los Angeles, CA /// Pacific Electric
May 16 /// San Francisco, CA /// Swedish American Hall
May 27 /// Nashville, TN /// Analog at Hutton Hotel
May 30 /// Chicago, IL /// Lincoln Hall
June 7 /// Seattle, WA /// Triple Door
June 11 /// Boston, MA /// Sinclair
June 13 /// New York, NY /// LPR