Eric Nam did in fact almost get that house on a hill he named his new album after.

While he didn’t end up getting the keys to it, walking away from that prime piece of real estate, he faced an onslaught of disconcerting questions on the downward slope.

“Why did I want a house so badly?” he pondered out loud, waxing philosophical just as we began our interview. “Does it help justify or signify something? Is it success? Is it status? Is it, 'Oh, this is my thing,' like having ownership or something? Is it maybe me wanting to settle down?”

“From there it kind of started to trickle down into notes about happiness, what makes us happy – what makes me really happy,” he added.

House on a Hill, the Korean-American musician’s latest record, is what he describes as “an existential crisis of an album.” Across its 8 tracks, he tackles the woes of Being – capital B.

“I realise that as people, it's in our nature to always want more and more things,” he said. “You want something that's bigger, better or more expensive. That's just the way I think we're wired.”

The Atlanta native’s second effort as an independent solo act, the record names among its writing and production credits London-based duos HONNE’s James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck (‘Only for a Moment’) and Oh Wonder’s Anthony and Josephine Vander West (‘I Wish I Wasn’t Me’).

Eric himself was also on screenwriting and creative direction duties for a set of music videos accompanying the album, dropping ‘Don’t Leave Yet’ (quite the Beetlejuice-like piece of work) a month ahead of the album’s release.

Before he kicks off his world tour later in September (21/9 in Orlando, Florida), stopping by around 80 cities, here’s our little Cribs tour of his House on a Hill.

Listen to Eric Nam’s House on a Hill here: