hydracarbon was formed in 2004 by singer/songwriter timothy michael growley.  disillusioned by the current direction of mainstream rock, growley set out to make music on par with his main influence: sleater-kinney. to reinforce his minimalistic approach, the name hydracarbon was a perfect amalgamation of the basic elements of life (carbon and water).  growley grew up in in mina outside of sherman, ny where he was raised by his mother. he now resides in jamestown, ny.

hydracarbon’s first album still life. was recorded in 2006 at the same time sk came to town to record the woods.  it was engineered partly with the help of david fridmann’s suny fredonia colleague, bernd gottinger and later mastered by brian lucey.  the album developed into a fiery conceptual album of highly introspective material meant to convey how fragmentary events and ordinary circumstances define conviction and personal experience.  named after the shono junzo work of the same title, still life. also unveils as a connected series of plotless episodes.

in 2009, the follow-up release of the denouement marked a significant coming of age.  the denouement was produced by growley with the help of armand j. petri who also mixed the album.  it follows the death of johhnie james, the lead character of the still life. saga.  the album begins as james stabs himself and ends with his funeral to illustrate the unbearable weight extraordinary individuals carry establishing an identity independent of the expectations and realities of ordinary society.  illustrated through social cannibalism, james is consumed literally and figuratively by the very forces that made him exceptional.

early 2011 marked the release of hydracarbon’s third full length studio album in a shadow of light.  originally intended as an unplugged album, the project quickly evolved from a series of throwaway tracks to a deeply conceptual album exploring the estrangement of harriet blake from her daughter miriam resulting from the death of miriam’s son johhnie.  Ultimately, the album explores the expansion of intergenerational cultural bifurcation in the modern world.  Wrought with tension, in a shadow of light demonstrates a great methodological departure of the riff-rock and forced vocal lines of its predecessors by focusing more on melody and harmony. 

growley is currently working on material for his fourth studio album, hydracarbon black and is in the process of developing videos for songs to be made available at a later date.

   All hydracarbon albums may be purchased at iTunes, cdbaby, Amazon, cdUniverse, and several other common resellers.