HiM is a
dub influenced
post-rock group formed in
1995 by Doug Scharin, drummer for the bands
Codeine,
Rex and
June of 44. Their first album,
Egg, was their most dub-based effort. Each successive album has gone more in a quasi-
world music direction. After some recording for Crooklyn Dub Consortium and Wordsound, "Interpretive Belief System", HiM settled on a lineup of Scharin with
Bundy K. Brown,
Rob Mazurek and
Jeff Parker, members or occasional members of
Tortoise and
Isotope 217. Their first album was the underground hit
Sworn Eyes,
produced by Doug Scharin. A few personnel changes followed, and the revamped lineup including members of
June of 44. Golden released
Our Point of Departure in
1999, which signified a very clear shift toward a more jazz-like sound, followed by a major American and European tour. In 2003, HiM released
Many In High Places Are Not Well on
Fat Cat Records, which was received as their most successful and fully realized release.
Peoples was released in mid-2006, featuring a cleaner sound with more vocals than any of HiM's previous releases. Included in this line-up are
Martin Perna and
Jordan McLean from
Antibalas, Griffin Rodriguez from Need New Body/Icy Demons, Adam Pierce (
Mice Parade). The latest HiM records, "1110" and
ん,released in 2008 and 2009 on Afterhours in Tokyo, are collaborations between Doug Scharin, Josh Larue and the Tokyo based group,
Ultra Living.
