Hal Kolodney’s creative process unlocked when close buddy and mixing engineer Andrew Stevenson quipped, “You’re a photographer, not a painter.” Embracing a fast and instinctive songwriting approach gave him the confidence to capture the feelings of right now, a moment in time that was pure and fleeting.

Kolodney grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, with a musically inclined extended family: a guitar-playing aunt willing to lend a hand-me-down, a trombone-playing father with an extensive music library, and a Lebanese mother bringing her heritage to add to the surrounding Southern traditions. That foundation combined with years of jazz and blues gigs, alt-country performances, and other various indie rock endeavors honed his skills and eclectic tastes, but also led to a good deal of overthinking. Curious to see entirely where his instincts (and only his instincts) would lead him, Kolodney started posting songs that were written and recorded in three to four hours, start to finish. That, combined with Stevenson’s quote, made the future clear.

Swimming Sisters is the nom de plume of Kolodney’s unleashed songwriting style. The name is a nod to his Catholic upbringing and one of his favorite record labels (Flying Nun becomes Swimming Sister), and it’s as inspired by Guided by Voices as it is by The Byrds, middle-era XTC, or most any other guitar pop band you could name from the last 70 years.

Latest Hits Vol 1 and 2 are love songs, but not tidy ones. They are buoyant and melancholy in the same breath. They are cerebral yet fleeting. They are infectious, distinct, and charming. They’re built on the idea that everyone’s feelings deserve to exist at full size, even when the picture of them that you have in your mind isn’t totally coherent yet. The title is a wry joke about the songs all being hits, but it's also sincere: these are snapshots, not portraits, each one kept exactly as it looked before the moment could get away from him. The latest hits.