They have been described by The Boston Globe as "the sound of music without limits",[1] "criminally underappreciated" by Spin (magazine),[2] and have been praised by Pitchfork Media for their "vivid lyrics," "knack for crafting fist-pumping anthems," and “shambolic, maximalist barroom aura.”[3] They've been hailed as an “indie rock institution in Boston"[4] and Aquarium Drunkard has declared that “few do it with the style and imagination of Hallelujah the Hills.”[5] The band formed just weeks after the final show from Walsh and drummer Eric Meyer's former band, The Stairs.
The band released their first two albums on Misra Records, Collective Psychosis Begone and Colonial Drones while frequently touring the U.S.[6] The band has a penchant for unusual collaborations; they've co-written a song with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, collaborated with author Jonathan Lethem,[7] and often solicited and incorporated recordings of their fans speaking written passages into their songs.
[9] All trumpet, cello, keyboards, and piano parts for the album were recorded with Hallelujah the Hills in Boston in August 2009, including Walsh's backing vocals on "A More Perfect Union" and "Titus Andronicus Forever".
Hallelujah The Hills' third full-length album No One Knows What Happens Next was funded by a successful Kickstarter project[16] and was declared "a daring move" by Prefix Magazine[17] for its stripped down arrangements and lack of distortion.
In a blog entry posted during the sessions, Walsh hinted that the album had some connection to The Fox Sisters who are regularly credited as being the accidental inventors of the Spiritualist movement in America in the late 1800s.
"[29] On April 12, 2016, Hallelujah The Hills returned with A Band Is Something To Figure Out, their fifth full-length album, recorded almost ten years to the day of their first rehearsal.
"[33] The band toured less than usual following that release due to Walsh working on his debut book, Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968, published by Penguin Press in March 2018.
[34] The band, joined by new member David Michael Curry, recorded new original instrumental music to augment the book's audiobook format, later deciding to release the tracks as an album titled Against Electricity.