Even though Hammock’s latest album, Mysterium, was created in the aftermath of a personal tragedy — the death of member Marc Byrd’s nephew — the band is leery of romanticizing the relationship between sorrow and art too much. “There’s this mistaken idea that in order for art to be genuine, it has to come from some darkness or grim reality,” Marc told us via speaker phone, from bandmate Andrew Thompson’s recording studio outside of Nashville. “Good art can be a response to the sadness and suffering we go through in life, but it can also come from light and joy.”