Micah P. Hinson

The Baby & The Satellite

(Jade Tree)

Record Review by Alexis Roberts

Everyone has a story—some are just more interesting than others, and Micah P. Hinson’s takes the cake.  At the tender age of 19, he was swept off his feet by a supermodel, began dating her, then forging her prescriptions, then taking drugs himself, and finally was sent to prison and disowned by his strict Christian family.  In the aftermath of his broken youth, Hinson found himself living without a job and without a real home.  With a ton of time on his hands, he began writing and recording the songs that formed The Baby & The Satellite.

These songs could definitely be defined as the memoirs of Hinson’s youth gone wrong.  Sad and slow, they give you the feeling of isolation and hopelessness.  Hinson has an uncannily deep voice, and normally sings flat, adding to the feeling that all is lost.  The constant droning of his monotone vocal adds character to his songs, but, to be honest, I was expecting the songs to be a little more exciting, especially after reading up a bit on him.  For a person who has a lot to get off his chest, I feel like he didn’t really use his album to speak out as much as he could have.  Instead, it’s very bare—his songs are so simplistic that I’d even call them elementary.  The Baby & The Satellite may represent Hinson’s first steps into the land of adulthood, acknowledging that he has a lot of learning and growing up to do, and I applaud him for that.  But after listening to the album, I came away feeling tone deaf and depressed.