In “On the Rise,” the Daily Bruin profiles up-and-coming musicians in Los Angeles. Though our subjects do not necessarily have direct connections with UCLA, they are artists who have brought their sounds to Los Angeles and have taken advantage of opportunities within the city’s thriving music scene.
Hillary Reynolds entered a crowded bar in search of live music on a rainy night in Paris.
The evening was her first of 14 days alone in the unfamiliar city in 2014. Raised above the bar sat a massive, square stage where customers could look up to and see musicians trading off performing their favorite covers. Without knowing a single person in France, Reynolds climbed onto the stage and sang “Hey Jude” by The Beatles.
The song’s iconic “nah nah nah” interlude filled the bar, and suddenly everyone was speaking the common language of music, she said. They continued singing the Beatles’ tunes into the early morning, and the locals invited her back the following night.
“It’s the coolest to be done with that song, go to the bar, and then like 10 people want to know more about you because you connected with them,” Reynolds said. “I know that music will keep doing that.”
In 2007 Reynolds began writing songs with cellist Trevor Jarvis. Along with guitarist Marton Bisits, they formed a pop-infused folk band called Peridot in January 2016. The trio is a new addition to the Los Angeles music scene, joining the entertainment industry in January after a decadelong musical partnership in Boston. The group released its seven-song EP in 2016 and recently performed at popular Los Angeles venues like The Hotel Cafe and Bar Lubitsch.
Peridot was formed by chance, Jarvis said. During his first year at Berklee College of Music, he visited his cousin in Appleton, Wisconsin, and she introduced him to a friend who was considering attending Berklee – Reynolds. The two chatted at a coffee shop, and when Reynolds joined Jarvis in fall 2007, the two began writing music together at college.
The first time they ever played together was a train wreck, Jarvis said. Reynolds invited him to play the cello in an orchestra-arranged piece she had written called “Mixed Emotions.”
Although the majority of the orchestra played poorly, Reynolds and Jarvis felt a connection. The two later collaborated on their first song, “When Love Begins to Grow,” which they submitted to Berklee’s songwriting competition.
Jarvis and Reynolds performed in several different groups over their decadelong musical relationship, with Hillary Reynolds Band being the most recent project. When the group was in need of a replacement guitar player, they held auditions that resulted in Bisits joining the band.
Reynolds said the search process was like a film montage of failed auditions until Bisits walked into the room and blew them away, she said.
“He was the first person who could execute and play our songs and showed up to the audition prepared and, that immediately caught my attention,” Reynolds said.
Bisits joining the band marked the beginning of Peridot, Jarvis said.
Peridot resulted from a search for creativity, an impulsive shift away from her namesake to signify new musical opportunities after Hillary Reynolds Band plateaued in 2015, Reynolds said.
“I looked up the meaning and the origin of ‘(peridot)’ and this idea of (finding) what was lost really resonated with me, and is what I’m drawn to in music,” Reynolds said. “Once I started writing in that space it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s my creativity.’”
The writing process among the three members varies by song, Reynolds said. Some days Reynolds cancels all plans just to sit on her kitchen floor in her pajamas with a guitar when she finds a spark of songwriting creativity. Occasionally, something in her journal or a random thought will inspire a song and consume all of her energy for the day.
“Tightrope,” a song in the new EP, was born in this fashion. Reynolds sent voice memos back and forth to the group as the song progressed.
Jarvis said their songs are playing on the radio in places they have never visited, like small towns in Alaska and Canada. A fan from Australia once planned a trip to New York just to see the band perform.
Another fan gave Reynolds a jar of honey after one of their Wisconsin shows as a nod to the singer’s smooth-like-honey voice, Reynolds said.
One man reached out to the band to learn the chords to their song “Lonely Work” on the guitar. The two ended up talking on the phone to help the fan nail down the lyrics.
“We’re building this thing from the ground-up that’s growing and growing into something that’s touching all these people,” Jarvis said.
Peridot’s arrival in Los Angeles in January was the beginning of new opportunities for the group in the city’s thriving music industry. Los Angeles provides an atmosphere of creativity that aligns with the diverse musical community, Jarvis said.
“I feel like there’s nothing else that I’d rather be doing,” Reynolds said. “It’s just very natural. It just feels like breathing.”
