'Song Exploder' Host Hrishikesh Hirway on 'In the Last Hour of Light' (Listening Party)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: 'Song Exploder' Host Hrishikesh Hirway on 'In the Last Hour of Light' (Listening Party)

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (hosted by David Fuerst)
Guest: Rishikesh Hirway (Song Exploder host, musician)
Air Date: June 12, 2026
Episode Focus: An in-depth listening session and discussion with Rishikesh Hirway about his debut full-length album under his own name, In the Last Hour of Light, exploring its themes, his creative process, and his journey back to songwriting.

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Overview: Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of All Of It centers on the intersection of musical creativity and personal history. Guest Rishikesh Hirway, known for dissecting musicians’ creative processes on his podcast Song Exploder, shares a more intimate side as a creator with his new album. Host David Fuerst guides an engaging listening party, exploring how Hirway’s reconnection to music, struggles with writer’s block, cultural identity, and life choices shape In the Last Hour of Light. Throughout, listeners get both rich musical excerpts and reflections on how music, memory, and identity intertwine.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Returning to Music After a Long Hiatus

[02:18 - 03:22]

• Hirway shares that while In the Last Hour of Light is his fifth album, it’s the first released under his own name; his previous work was as The One AM Radio, with the last album in 2011.
  • Quote: "It's been a pretty long stretch." (Hirway, 02:18)
• He describes overcoming nearly a decade-long writer’s block. Making his EP (Rooms I Used to Call My Own) was like “learning to walk again” after not making music, while the new album was a chance to “see if I could run.”
  • Quote: “Making that EP really was proof for me that my music was still alive. It felt a little bit like learning to walk again from physical therapy, and then I think making this album was a chance for me to see what else could happen next.” (Hirway, 02:42)

2. The Album as Memoir: Personal and Cultural Storytelling

[03:36 - 06:55]

• The album is described by Hirway as a kind of memoir, with tracks like “Dark Circles” explicitly drawing on childhood experiences and the feeling of cultural disconnect.
  • Quote: “This is certainly an album that I think of as a memoir. This is a song that comes from a page when I was growing up in Massachusetts...” (Hirway, 03:36)
• Hirway discusses growing up with Indian music at home and feeling “behind” on learning about American popular music, particularly referencing Bruce Springsteen.
  • Quote: “I didn’t grow up with American music. Even though I was born here...I feel like I’ve been playing catch up ever since.” (Hirway, 05:01)
• The longing for connection through music, and the awareness of difference, shapes his work and identity.
  • Quote: “It all felt so quintessentially American in a way that felt very foreign to me...I've always kind of wondered...the ways I might not be able to connect with people in the way that I want.” (Hirway, 05:43)

3. Collaborations and Community

[07:17 - 07:59]

• Frequent collaborator Fenne Lily, a UK-born singer-songwriter now based in Brooklyn, features on songs and co-wrote with Hirway, their work together started on Zoom and deepened in-person.
  • Quote: “Her music hit me in a way that I kind of hope that my music does for other people.” (Hirway, 07:45)

4. Lessons from 'Song Exploder' and the Myth of the "Right Way"

[07:59 - 10:52]

• Despite interviewing countless musicians, Hirway did not absorb their creative advice for his own use until he returned to making music himself.
  • Quote: “It actually took a really long time for all the accumulated wisdom that people had given me over the podcast years to actually hit me.” (Hirway, 08:22)
• Key takeaway: There is no single “right” way to write or record a song. Even highly successful artists often feel uncertain about their process.
  • Quote: “I’ve come to understand...that is a complete myth. There is no right way of doing things or one way of doing things. And people who have made massive hits, a lot of them had no idea what they were doing...” (Hirway, 09:41)

5. Personal Reflection: Choosing Not to Have Children

[12:39 - 14:11]

• The song “Charlie (Short for Charlotte)” imagines a life as a father to a daughter he and his wife chose never to have, allowing Hirway to process the grief and complexity of that decision.
  • Quote: “I’m singing to the daughter that I will never have. My wife and I...made the decision early on that we weren’t going to have kids...” (Hirway, 12:39)
  • Quote: “I wanted to give myself the opportunity to kind of grieve what we were missing...it’s not a black and white situation.” (Hirway, 13:35)
• He acknowledges societal pressure and the nuance in following non-traditional paths.

6. Blending Career Facets & Upcoming Live Event

[14:36 - 16:36]

• Hirway discusses combining the different sides of his public life—podcaster, musician, TV host—at tour events featuring moderated talks with guests. The upcoming event at LPR in Greenwich Village with actor/podcaster Adam Scott is an effort to bring together fans from various communities.
  • Quote: “I really wanted to combine all the different parts of my life...none of them might know me for my music, which is what I think is sort of my core identity.” (Hirway, 16:21)
• Adam Scott’s connection with Hirway stems from mutual podcast appearances and overlapping fandoms (music and The West Wing).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On creative process and writer’s block:
  “Making that EP really was proof for me that my music was still alive. It felt a little bit like learning to walk again from physical therapy...” (Hirway, 02:42)

• On cultural identity:
  “I didn’t grow up with American music...I feel like I’ve been playing catch up ever since, just trying to learn about the canon of the music that I make, you know, the world that I’m in.” (Hirway, 05:01)

• On the myth of "the right way":
  “There is no right way of doing things or one way of doing things. And people who have made massive hits, a lot of them had no idea what they were doing...” (Hirway, 09:41)

• On imagining unchosen futures:
  “I wanted to give myself the opportunity to kind of grieve what we were missing. I still think that it’s the right decision for us, but it’s not a black and white situation.” (Hirway, 13:31)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & artist background: 00:08 – 02:18
• Writer’s block, returning to music: 02:18 – 03:22
• "Dark Circles," Springsteen references, cultural disconnect: 03:36 – 06:55
• Collaborating with Fenne Lily: 07:17 – 07:59
• Learning from 'Song Exploder': 07:59 – 10:52
• Personal reflection on fatherhood in “Charlie”: 12:39 – 14:11
• Combining career facets & forthcoming event with Adam Scott: 14:36 – 16:36
• Episode closes with a selection from “Things Change Even Now": 16:49 – 17:43

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Tone & Atmosphere

The conversation is warm, reflective, and deeply personal, capturing Hirway’s humility and gentle humor. David Fuerst’s questioning is curious and empathetic, providing space for honest discussion of meaningful topics ranging from creative process to identity, loss, and hope. The episode feels like an intimate living room “listening party” rather than a formal interview—an honest dialogue about life and music for thoughtful listeners.

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Transcript

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Foreign.

[David Fuerst]

You're listening to all of it here on WNYC. I'm David Fuerst in for Alison Stewart. Since 2014, Rishikesh Hirway has hosted the award winning podcast and now Netflix series Song Exploder, where musicians break down the creative process behind their songs. But when he's not interviewing artists about their work, he is creating music of his own. And recently Irweh released his first full length alternative indie pop album under his own name. It's called in the Last Hour of Light. The 11 song album is a personal reflection on letting go and struggling with the desire to stop time. Something we all feel. Let's take a listen to the opening track, Stray Dogs featuring guest singer Iron and White.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

A pack of stray dogs by my uncle's house Tearing down the street

A

streak of wild legs and open mouths in love with their lives must be. I can't believe the joy that poured out of em Mangy and lean, weaving between parked cars and people taking turns in the lead.

[David Fuerst]

A little bit of Stray Dogs from In the Last Hour of Light. The album is out now and Rishikesh Hirway joins us in studio for a listening party ahead of his conversation with Adam Scott. Coming up tomorrow night at 7:30 at LPR in Greenwich Village. Doors open at 6:30 and Rishi Keshe, welcome back to all of it.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Thank you so. Thank you so much for having me.

[David Fuerst]

It's great to have you for this listening party. You were on all of it back in, I think it was 2022.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yes.

[David Fuerst]

To talk about your EP rooms I used to call my own. But in the Last Hour of Light this is the first full length album released under your own name, right?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yeah, it's my fifth album, but the first four I used to make music under the name the One AM Radio and the last one came out in 2011. So it's been a pretty long stretch.

[David Fuerst]

That is a long stretch. Talk about. Well, not just that stretch, but the time between releasing that EP and making in the Last Hour of Light. How did that influence the stories that you wanted to tell on this album?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Well, I think making the EP after such a long time of not making music was a way for me to kind of reconnect with the fact that I could make music again at all. I had had a really bad bout of writer's block that ended up going for almost a decade. Making that EP really was proof for me that my music was still alive. It felt a little bit like learning to walk again from physical therapy and then I think making this album was a chance for me to see what else could happen next, you know, Okay, I can walk again. Well, can I run? And what does that feel like?

[David Fuerst]

I want to hear another piece from the album right away. I want to hear a song called Dark Circles. This was written with Fen Lilly, who also sings with you on this one. Is there anything you want to say about this before we play it?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Well, this is certainly an album that I think of as a memoir. This is a song that comes from a page when I was growing up

[David Fuerst]

in Massachusetts, and it has some very specific references to some Bruce Springsteen songs, right?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yeah, there's a reference to a Bruce Springsteen. A different Bruce Springsteen in each of the verses. There are three different songs mentioned.

[David Fuerst]

Okay, let's take a listen. This is Dark Circles,

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Fenway Park, 11 years old. The whole crowd sings words you don't know. There's nothing like born in the usa. To relive the feeling you had that day. Five years on parked in a car,

[David Fuerst]

Fenway Park, 11 years old the whole crowd sings words you don't know it's really conjuring up a feeling of being disconnected.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yeah, I didn't grow up with American music. Even though I was born here. My parents didn't listen to that much music, and when they did, it was mostly Indian music. And I feel like I've been playing catch up ever since, just trying to learn about the canon of the music that I make, you know, the world that I'm in. I feel like I've learned. I've had to learn about it later than everybody else who sort of, like, grew up inheriting their parents music.

[David Fuerst]

As you're learning about all of that music, are you also trying to assess who you are? This song feels very much like you're talking about figuring out who am I?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yeah, absolutely. And Bruce Springsteen was a touch point for me because I think he was sort of the first a person who I understood as a rock star. When that Born in the USA album came out, I remember going over to my friend's. My friend's house when we were in elementary school and just see, you know, his family had mtv, which my family did not. And just watching the music video for Dancing in the Dark, and I remember even his mom having, like, a reaction to Bruce Springsteen as a heartthrob, you know, and the crowd and everything, and the denim, the blue jeans and the bandana and the white T shirt. It all felt so quintessentially American in a way that felt very foreign to me or just In a way that I felt disconnected from. And then, you know, now, having made my life in music, I've always kind of wondered what. What I might be missing or the ways I might not be able to connect with people in the way that I want. Because I feel like that part of the jigsaw puzzle for me, isn't there.

[David Fuerst]

Interesting. And it's like, how much do you need to worry about that? Right. That's what you're also trying to get.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yes.

[David Fuerst]

Wait, should I not even be. Am I thinking too much?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yeah, but I thought about it a lot.

[David Fuerst]

Well, I want to mention the. The person who is singing with you there. Fan. Lilly, Singer, songwriter, from Dorset, England. Can you tell us about her?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yeah. And she lives here in New York. She lives in Brooklyn. And this album was recorded in Brooklyn, and Fen came to the studio and sang that with me. This was the first song of a few that we've written together. This was the first time we worked together. It was over Zoom. At that time, I was in LA and she was here. But then later we got together and got to actually make music in person.

[David Fuerst]

And she is someone that you've had on your Song Exploder podcast, right?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yes, but we first met, really, before that. Actually, I just reached out to her because I heard her album and was a huge fan, and her music hit me in a way that I kind of hope that my music does for other people.

[David Fuerst]

You talked about your long time away from making your own music. After listening to people talk about writing and producing their own songs on your podcast for more than a decade, were you sort of secretly doing research and development for your own songwriting, refining your approach to music and song, and thinking about what you wanted to do?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

I feel like the smart answer would be yes, and I wish I had been. But honestly, I had felt so disconnected from songwriting at the time that even though I was trying to sort of, sort of get to the root of the wisdom that people were telling in their stories and really transmit that to audiences, it was with a sense of, like, other people will benefit from this, and not so much a personal understanding of, like, oh, okay, the next time I write a song, I can think about this. Because I just. I wasn't writing music yet. So it actually took a really long time for all the accumulated wisdom that people had given me over the podcast years to actually hit me. You know, it had to wait until I actually started making music again. And then I kind of got to look back and think about all of the amazing people who have said incredible things on the show and how it might apply.

[David Fuerst]

And the great thing is, even if you weren't making your own music during that time, you were creating this incredible podcast, and that must have been a great experience in itself. Were there any particular insightful lessons or thoughts that you had, you know, that you really soaked in from speaking to the people on the podcast?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

I think, you know, relevant to my own music. Maybe the greatest lesson was something that happened in accumulation across all of the episodes, because maybe part of the re. One of the things that fed into my writer's block was a sense maybe, that the reason why I had not reached the level that I had a decade into my music career was because I didn't know how to do things the right way. I didn't know how to write a song properly or record it properly like that. There was a right way that people knew, and I just had not figured out how to tap into it. And as I've spoken to all these guests, I've come to understand that that is a complete myth. There is no right way of doing things or one way of doing things. And people who have made massive hits, a lot of them had no idea what they were doing or at least had no idea that what they were making would be a hit. And all of that helped poke holes in what I had thought of as a really firm belief that there was, you know, if not a single way, then like a sort of a school of thought that I just needed to understand and again, had missed out on.

[David Fuerst]

And let me just mention, I mean, you've had some amazing guests on the podcast over the years. The latest episode is a chat with Paul McCartney. So check that out. Song exploder. He's talking about a song from his excellent new album, the Boys of Dungeon Lane. And I want to listen to another song from your new album once again. It is called in the Last Hour of Light. This piece is called Charlie and short for Charlotte. This is also featuring fan Lilly. This is on in the last hour of light.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Hair swept past your face Summer day in slow motion Memory I misplaced People pull us aside to talk about your eyes color is hard to describe Half your mom's, half mine Try to understand

[David Fuerst]

and I'm just gonna keep listening. If I don't come in right now, I'm gonna let that one play all the way through. It's such a great song, Charlie, Short for Charlotte. And it does not actually have finlilly on that one, but tell us about this piece.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

And this is a song that I wrote. I'm singing to the daughter that I will never have. My wife and I have been together for almost two decades, and we made the decision early on that we weren't going to have kids. And then about a decade into that, suddenly that decision kind of was brought into question, you know, because as we started to realize, like, well, this is kind of the last chance to really decide that. But we had. We had decided not to have kids and faced so many years of people saying, aren't you going to have kids? Why don't you have kids? You should. You know, your. Your kid would be so great. You'd be great parents. But it never felt like the right decision for us. And as a result of kind of digging my heels in, I felt like I could never really even consider the possibility because it would somehow indicate that, like, here's a crack that people can get through. But after we'd made the decision that we really weren't going to have kids in this song, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to kind of grieve what we were missing. I still think that it's the right decision for us, but it's not a black and white situation. And I wanted to allow myself the space to really explore what it feels like to imagine that kid and how beautiful that life could have been.

[David Fuerst]

It's a beautiful piece of music. I hate fading it out of the middle. It really needs to go all the way through. It feels wrong. Thank you. We're speaking with Rishikesh Hirway. The new album is in the Last hour of Light, so check it out. You can listen to the full piece and tell us about this event you have coming up. Tomorrow evening, you're on tour. As part of your tour, you're doing these moderated talks with guests about the album. And tomorrow night, you're in conversation with Adam Scott.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Yes.

[David Fuerst]

Famous actor at LPR in Greenwich Village. How did that pairing come together?

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Well, Adam, you know, besides being an incredible actor, is also a huge music fan. He hosts a music podcast where he and Scott Aukerman talked about first every U2 album, and then they talked about every R.E.M album. And at one point, while they were doing that, that series, they talked about the REM Episode of Song Exploder. I think the Song Exploder episode of the podcast came out when they were making their podcast, and I heard Adam Scott talking about it, which was incredible. And then, you know, separately, I also have done this podcast about the West Wing, and Adam Scott is a huge West Wing fan, and he would sometimes tweet about the show or and then so we got connected really through, through the Internet and Twitter and and have become acquainted that way. And he's been a guest on on the West Wing Weekly after that. And then he was on an episode of Song Exploder where I talked about the theme for Severance with the composer Teddy Shapiro.

[David Fuerst]

Wow.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

So he's. Yeah, he and I have met several times and he's been incredibly nice about my work and I just thought he'd be somebody I would love to be in conversation with. I've gotten to interview him a few times, but for this tour I really wanted to combine all the different parts of my life they felt siloed in a way, even just within the podcast world. Song Exploder different from West Wing Weekly. Different from the food podcast that I make with Sumin Nosrat home cooking. People might know me from one or the other and those people might

and

none of them might know me for my music, which is what I think is sort of my core identity. So as trying to make an album that was in my entire self, I wanted to bring that to the events as well.

[David Fuerst]

Well, in the Last Hour of Light is out now. Rishikesh Hirway will be in conversation with Adam Scott Tomorrow evening at 7:30 at LPR. Doors open at 6:30. Thank you so much for joining us today.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Thank you so much for having me back.

[David Fuerst]

And let's go out with a song from the album. This is Things change even now from in the last hour of light.

[Rishikesh Hirway]

Things change even now Watching you breathe in and out Eyes closed from the strain I know you're not one to complain.

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[David Fuerst]

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