Features : ‘A love letter to the 90s;’ Twelve Days in June brings the ‘Nostalgia’

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. — Dave Hulegaard is writing a love letter to his high school days with his new album “Nostalgia,” set for release on April 14. 

Hulegaard is the sole permanent member of the band ‘Twelve Days in June,” and ‘Nostalgia,’ a 14-song album, is his second release in a little more than a year.

“I put out an album called ‘Anhedonia’ in January of 2022 and it was this album that had been dragging along for a decade,” Hulegaard said. “I had this constant start-stop sort of experience with it. So I felt like I owed it to myself to finally get it done. That was absolutely the album I needed to make. ‘Nostalgia’ I would describe as the album I always wanted to make.

“I think of ‘Nostalgia’ as a love letter to the 90s. This is really my homage to all my favorite bands that helped me develop my musical palate. And I find that it’s still the music I gravitate to today when I’m listening to music. I’m still throwing on 90s playlists and things of that nature.”

Hulegaard said he loved music as a kid, and those bands from the 1990s when he was in high school made an everlasting impression on him.

“It just became something I couldn’t ignore, something I had to do,” Hulegaard said. “It wasn't enough to simply listen, making music was something in my blood. So that’s where it started and when I had to step away for a bit because life happened, as it does, something was missing — I felt the absence.”

He did what he had to do for about a decade, but soon after his mother, who he called “really my best friend in life,” passed away in 2019, Hulegaard felt that pull to music again.

“Right after she passed, I was outside walking my dog watching the sunset and this melody came into my head and stuck with me until I went home and put the dog up,” he said. “I had this song that I had to sit down and figure it out. It became this song called ‘The Lighthouse,’ which is on my ‘Anhedonia’ album and that was it. I felt like I had to record it. I had to get this song out and the experience just completely reignited my passion for making music. It’s been non-stop ever since.”

Hulegaard said his band name, “Twelve Days in June,” comes from a place that’s familiar for musicians around the world, a girl and a relationship.

“It was a time in my life where I had this plan of how my life was going to go and I had the right partner picked out and this was the way it was going to be,” Hulgaard said. “But it was a relationship that fizzled out over a couple of weeks. So I said, hey, we’ll always have those twelve days in June. For some reason it just stuck with me and I kept it as a band name.”

Hulegaard said he’s proud of all 14 songs on “Nostalgia,” but one track in particular has a special place in his heart because it gave him a chance to work with a musical legend from the 1990s.

“I can’t even put into words what it was like to work with Ken Stringfellow on the song ‘Until Sunrise,’” Hulegaard said. “Ken Stringfellow is a legend, he worked with R.E.M., he’s somebody I have always looked up to. I was a huge ‘Posies’ fan as a teenager, all the way into his years with ‘Big Star.’

“When writing this song, I always kind of heard him in my ear. He’s a local guy, so I thought on a whim I would contact him. I figured all he could do was say no. But he is an incredibly friendly and humble and talented person, and he was willing to work with me from the beginning. He was a pleasure to collaborate with and a creative force behind that song. And every time I hear it, it just blows me away that that’s my song.”

Hulegaard said he hopes people get the same experience out of the album that he does.
“To me, this album is how I heard the 1990s,” he said. “I really want people, when they hear this album, to feel like they’re stepping back in time to 1994, putting on their corduroys and chain wallets and stepping into that dark club with that unknown opening band on stage. That’s the feeling I want to communicate with this album and I hope I’ve accomplished that.”

Please follow “Twelve Days in June” and watch for the April 14 release of “Nostalgia” on these social media and music platforms:

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