Ducking is a four-member Columbus group consisting of Noah Fisher, Brian Hodge, Eli Francis, and John Martino.
After a series of thoughtful conversations with the members of Ducking, I felt strongly compelled to share their perspectives on navigating the creative process and building community through music.
Following their 2026 mini tour, Ducking officially released their newest album, It’s Nice Out In Here. Cathartic, inspiring, and ambient - I first saw this genre-blending set at the Mercury Music Lounge last March. Wanting to support my good friend and former bandmate Brian Hodge, I found myself instantly becoming a fan of Ducking.
After their March show, we exchanged a brief dialogue surrounding the inner workings and backstories of some of Ducking’s most notable pieces. The first track, “Across The Blue Mountains,” serves as an engaging take that combines bluegrass and ambient genres. During our initial conversation, Noah shared some of the steps taken through the songwriting process.
“I love folk and bluegrass music and always liked the idea of doing a bluegrass cover, but making it sound totally strange from the usual bluegrass sound. I had this guitar tone that I was really digging but I didn't know what to do with it. I had been messing around with it for a while and I just started singing the first verse from this traditional song sung by the Kossoy Sisters, and it just felt right. I tried it out live and it felt good as an intro to ‘Gary’ and a lot of people tell me at shows that they really like that moment in our set, so it’s kinda become a staple.”
“I wasn't going to record a cover and put it on the album but then I found out it's in the public domain because it's a very old piece. So we decided that’s gonna be the opening track.”
Another notable and well-received track off the new album is “Gary.” Noah notes:
“It’s kind of a moment of realizing the world you grew up in is gone or maybe never existed at all. Feelings of obligation, ephemeral nature, finding meaning in a shiny rock. The end of the song is related to the perversion of urban renewal and that being an effect of the competitive culture that I feel like we’re in now. Everybody wants to be a winner, and you lose a lot of character along the way.”
“Gary” can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp
I have known Ducking bassist Brian Hodge for a few years now, and our time in the Columbus Midwest emo band Pantomime was nothing short of a formative season of my life as a musician. After moving from Columbus, I have continually looked back fondly at the transformative experience of sharing music with a great community and what that has done for both myself and others.
After our conversation, I found that Brian had perfectly articulated this sentiment.
“I'd say that for me, it's amazing how even a short time playing music with somebody can bond you both in and of itself, and as a way to communicate about who you are and what you have in common without words, and as a bridge to get to know somebody in the normal ways too. I think us playing music together let us say a lot about ourselves and made it much easier and more comfortable to learn about and get to know each other in ways that it's harder to do when you first meet somebody in any other context, I feel like we were able to get a lot closer and really open up to each other in no small part because of our music”
You can purchase Ducking’s newest album here.
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