Tim Harrington and Paul Wright rolled onto Hamline’s campus nearly two weeks ago, riding their white minivan steed and sporting a pair of man buns. The indie duo was performing at the HUPB monthly Coffeehouse Series in the Anderson Forum. The pair had been friends and performers together for a majority of their lives, having grown up in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Their paths first collided when Wright started attending grade school with Harrington’s older brother. At this same point in time, Harrington first discovered the Beatles, which struck his love for music. He started playing the guitar at the age of 15 but had been singing and writing songs long before that. On the other hand, Wright grew up in a family that was classically trained on various string instruments, following in the footsteps of his grandmother and brother. Due to this, he began playing the cello at eight years old and grew from there.

Both members talked about their passion for music and performing, along with where they draw the most inspiration. These tended to be day to day occurrences, the people that they meet and interacted with and friends who are musicians like the group they’ve been touring with, Darlingside.

“What I enjoy most about performing is connecting with people. Even if it’s not a religious experience for me every night, if I can provide something real for someone to wrap their head around, that’s what it’s all about,” Harrington explained.

Sometimes their songs can get old and tired, much like any type of music, but if they set it aside for awhile, it will soon seem fresh and new, the duo claimed. One that they haven’t quite “beaten into the ground yet” is their single “Cold Spirit.” Having performed for awhile now, they have also heard their fair share of good, bad and interesting reviews from critics. The craziest by far was when a reviewer claimed, “their music is like all of the pain and suffering in the world all at the same time,” while another individual said that they wore “ill-fitting pants.”

Regardless of what both of these people said, along with a woman who screamed out “you guys suck!,” the band did not in fact suck during their performance on Wednesday, April 8.

Second year student Kallie Gunsolus exclaimed, “They had great voices and I was surprised how full their sound was with just two instruments. Also the man buns were a perk.”

Gunsolus had come to support HUPB and to explore musicians that she had never heard of before. Hamline was also fortunate enough to get to experience the group on the last leg of their tour before heading home to Boston. Though they will have a break, that time is short lived as their next big tour begins on April 25 with a show at the Brighton Music Hall in Boston.

If you could not make it to their Hamline performance or are interested in more information, live videos and sound bites, you can visit their website, tallheights.com.