Song Exploder

Listen to 'In the Last Hour of Light' here – lnk.to/inthelasthouroflightListen to "Never Going Anywhere" here — lnk.to/nevergoinganywhereDropbox archive of demos, photos, and more – hrishikesh.co/albumarchive I wanted to share this conversation that I had with my friend Jason Mantzoukas earlier this year. It was on stage, here in Los Angeles, at my album release show on May 14, 2026. Before playing my songs, I had this in-depth conversation with Jason about music and creativity, and my own creative process. And if you don’t already know Jason Mantzoukas, he is a comedian and actor and improviser and writer and podcast host—you might have seen him in John Wick, or The Good Place or Parks and Rec, or The League, or you might know his voice from Big Mouth—or you might know his podcast How Did This Get Made? I love talking to Jason about music and film and TV, and our conversation kind of touched on all of those things. But principally, it’s about this album that I made called In the Last Hour of Light, which is my fifth full-length, but my first one in 15 years, since before I started making Song Exploder.For more info, visit songexploder.net/jason-and-hrishikesh.

Allison Russell is a singer and songwriter originally from Montreal and now based in Nashville. She’s a Grammy-winner and an eight-time Grammy nominee. And she’s also won Canada’s Juno Award, an Americana award, and more. She starred in Hadestown on Broadway. She spent years in bands and collaborating with others before she released her first solo album in 2021. Her most recent album came out in 2026, and is called In The Hour of Chaos. But for this episode, Allison and I talked about the title track from her second album, The Returner, which came out in 2023. She recorded it with an all-female ensemble that included Wendy & Lisa of The Revolution. It was co-written with JT Nero, her husband, and Drew Lindsay, her brother-in-law, and the two of them also co-produced the song with Allison.For more info, visit songexploder.net/allison-russell.

30 years ago, DJ Shadow released his debut album, Entroducing… and it changed my life. I listened to it so much. And when I first started Song Exploder, he was on my list of dream guests. And then 10 years ago, that dream came true, and I got to make an episode with him in honor of the 20th anniversary of the album. Well, now it’s the 30th anniversary, and DJ Shadow is on tour this fall, celebrating it with a set that just focuses on songs from Endtroducing… And, there’s a special edition of the album on vinyl. So, in the spirit of all that, I wanted to go back to this episode of Song Exploder from back in 2016. For more info, visit songexploder.net/dj-shadow.

Elvis Costello is a singer and songwriter whose career spans five decades and over 30 albums. He’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter Hall of Fame. He’s won Grammy Awards, Ivor Novello Awards, a BAFTA, and he’s on Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest songwriters of all time. He put out his first album, My Aim Is True, in 1977. This month, he released a 49th anniversary edition of the album. So for this episode, I spoke to Elvis Costello about the making of “Alison,” from that debut album. Coming up, you’ll hear the isolated tracks from the original recording, as well as some additional parts that didn’t make the cut. And, in discussing the origin story of his song, we also ended up talking about the origin story of Elvis Costello himself.For more info, visit songexploder.net/elvis-costello.

Olivia Rodrigo is a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. In June 2026, she released her third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love. The day it came out, it broke streaming records on Spotify and Amazon Music, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard Charts. I talked to Olivia Rodrigo here in my studio, and I also visited her long-time producer and co-writer Dan Nigro at his studio. Dan Nigro won the Grammy for Producer of the Year in 2025, in part for his work with Olivia Rodrigo. For this episode, the two of them told me the story of making Olivia’s song “The Cure,” from the original voice memo to the final version.For more info, visit songexploder.net/olivia-rodrigo.

Donate to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library here: https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/Donate to Women's Media Center, co-founded by Gloria Steinem, here: https://act.womensmediacenter.com/a/support-wmc- When I heard the news of Dolly Parton’s death, and then a few days later, of Gloria Steinem’s death, I thought about this song that Natalie Merchant wrote called "Sister Tilly." It’s about losing a generation of activist women who did so much in their lifetimes. And so I wanted to go back and revisit Natalie Merchant’s song, and her beautiful story about what it means to her. This episode originally came out in June 2023. —HrishikeshNatalie Merchant is an award-winning singer and songwriter from upstate New York. She was the lead singer of the band 10,000 Maniacs until she left in 1993. And then, as a solo artist, she’s put out nine albums over the last 30 years. Between 10,000 Maniacs and her solo work, she’s had multiple multi-platinum records.In April 2023, Natalie put out her first album of new songs in nine years. It’s called Keep Your Courage. And for this episode, she talked to me about the song “Sister Tilly." It’s a eulogy for a fictional character – a woman who represents the generation of women who influenced her. Women who were activists in the 1960s and 70s, when she was growing up.For more, visit songexploder.net/natalie-merchant.

Paula Cole is a singer, songwriter and producer from Massachusetts. She put out her first solo album, Harbinger, in 1994. Her second album, This Fire, came out in 1996 and was a real breakthrough; she was nominated for seven Grammys, and she won the Grammy for Best New Artist. In fact, that year she was the first woman in Grammy history to be nominated for Producer of the Year without a male collaborator. For this episode, Paula told me about how she made one of the big hits from that album: “I Don’t Want to Wait.” It spent 56 weeks on the Billboard charts. And then, it was heard by millions more, when it was used as the theme song for the hit TV show Dawson’s Creek. These days, Paula has been reclaiming her old music in various ways. A couple of years ago, she re-recorded some of her songs, including “I Don’t Want to Wait.”  And that's the version of the song that you’ll hear throughout this episode, and at the end, in its entirety. And on September 10, 2026, Paula is putting out an archival collection of her demos. It’s called Sonic Memoir: Demos 1989-1998. It includes the original demo of “I Don’t Want to Wait,” which you’ll also hear in the episode, as Paula tells the story of how she wrote and produced the song.For more info, visit songexploder.net/paula-cole.

Charli XCX is a Grammy-winning artist who has been making music since she was a teenager. In July 2026, she released her eighth album, Music, Fashion, Film. It debuted at number 1 on the UK charts—her 4th album in a row to hit number 1 there. In addition to her music career, for the last few years, she’s been acting in films. And for this episode, we talked about how those experiences inspired her song “Camera," and how she and producer Finn Keane figured out how to translate that into music.For more info, visit songexploder.net/charli-xcx.

In 2016, Mitski did an episode of Song Exploder about her song “Your Best American Girl.” She had just released her second album, Puberty 2. Later, Pitchfork named “Your Best American Girl” one of the top 10 best songs of the past decade, and Billboard named it as one of the songs that defined the decade. And in honor of the 10th anniversary of the album, there’s a new deluxe version that’s out digitally, and a limited edition vinyl is coming in October. I thought this would be a good time to revisit Mitski’s episode, where she and her collaborator Patrick Hyland break down how “Your Best American Girl” was made. To learn more, visit songexploder.net/mitski

Suki Waterhouse is a singer-songwriter, actress, and model from London. She released her first single in 2016, and her first album, I Can’t Let Go, in 2022, on Sub Pop. You might have seen her in the show Daisy Jones & The Six, which came out in 2023. Since then, she’s also had her first child, with her partner Robert Pattinson. And all of that history figured into her new album, Loveland. For this episode, Suki told me about how she made the song “Back in Love” with her longtime collaborators, producer Jules Apollinaire and songwriter Natalie Findlay. "Back in Love" was the first single from her album, but it was the last song that was written for it.For more info, visit songexploder.net/suki-waterhouse.