Oh dear, Nick Hudson is already working on his next album and I haven't even covered the eighteen track epic he released this year?
NICK HUDSON - On The Eve Of Hope (lyric book + CD) (2025)
Of course it's not exactly news that the English singer/songwriter residing in Georgia (Caucasus, not US) is a highly productive artist. 2024: "Kanda Teenage Honey" 2023: "The Falconetti Stare" 2022: "The Cake Tasting Society OST" 2021: "Font of Human Fractures" ... It's hard to imagine that additionally to all that songwriting he's also active in other fields like painting or poetry.
Well, of course you can't really tell if poetry actually is a by-product, just texts without music yet. However that may be, for "On The Eve Of Hope" Hudson had a lyrical surplus, so this work is presented as a fourty pages book of lyrics about love, love to love itself and politics, plus a selection of original artworks and photographs.
(Please beware if - like me - you're triggered by printed lyrics differing from the recording! The record collector's wrong subtitle appears several times here.)
"Democracy, like love, requires maintenance, care and dedication" Nick explains in the foreword, "It is not merely something you arrive at to then leave lodged in stasis - both love and democracy are organic, shifting, porous; reflecting the energetic application of all parties in the service of keeping said entities in good shape."
So that's the theoretical ground, what's the musical result?
In the past I've often found myself comparing Nick Hudson to other artists, usually some of the greatest in their game, whose personality he temporarily seemed to channel. On "On the Eve Of Hope" he's very much himself. The one influence, which clearly shines through not only in the fact that most arrangements are centered around piano, harpsichord or keyboard, but also in the amount of songs on an album, obviously must be Tori Amos.
It's a relatively spontanous album that doesn't explore stylistic territories as wide as on "Kanda Teenage Honey", but rather concentrates on sheer good songwriting. And damn, are the songs good! Every single one a captivating tale about rebellion, relationships or the spirituality of nature. How often do I have to stress what a shame it is that this man isn't a thousand times more known and famous? Anyone with a restraint to hold back a Folk Pop masterpiece like "Miracleproof" until the end of such a long work (with only an outro track behind it), should receive an "I Won Art" award in my book.
Hudson appears more focussed now, while still sounding far from too homogenic. The curveballs are still out there, even thow they are thrown with less extreme trajectories, remaining within his framework of Alternative Electro-Acoustic Contemporary Gothic Chamber Post Punk Art Pop - to summerize it in one handy term. All in all "On The Eve Of Hope" really balances its mass of creative output perfectly, a beautifully rounded piece without one dull moment.
Well, of course you can't really tell if poetry actually is a by-product, just texts without music yet. However that may be, for "On The Eve Of Hope" Hudson had a lyrical surplus, so this work is presented as a fourty pages book of lyrics about love, love to love itself and politics, plus a selection of original artworks and photographs.
(Please beware if - like me - you're triggered by printed lyrics differing from the recording! The record collector's wrong subtitle appears several times here.)
"Democracy, like love, requires maintenance, care and dedication" Nick explains in the foreword, "It is not merely something you arrive at to then leave lodged in stasis - both love and democracy are organic, shifting, porous; reflecting the energetic application of all parties in the service of keeping said entities in good shape."
So that's the theoretical ground, what's the musical result?
In the past I've often found myself comparing Nick Hudson to other artists, usually some of the greatest in their game, whose personality he temporarily seemed to channel. On "On the Eve Of Hope" he's very much himself. The one influence, which clearly shines through not only in the fact that most arrangements are centered around piano, harpsichord or keyboard, but also in the amount of songs on an album, obviously must be Tori Amos.
It's a relatively spontanous album that doesn't explore stylistic territories as wide as on "Kanda Teenage Honey", but rather concentrates on sheer good songwriting. And damn, are the songs good! Every single one a captivating tale about rebellion, relationships or the spirituality of nature. How often do I have to stress what a shame it is that this man isn't a thousand times more known and famous? Anyone with a restraint to hold back a Folk Pop masterpiece like "Miracleproof" until the end of such a long work (with only an outro track behind it), should receive an "I Won Art" award in my book.
Hudson appears more focussed now, while still sounding far from too homogenic. The curveballs are still out there, even thow they are thrown with less extreme trajectories, remaining within his framework of Alternative Electro-Acoustic Contemporary Gothic Chamber Post Punk Art Pop - to summerize it in one handy term. All in all "On The Eve Of Hope" really balances its mass of creative output perfectly, a beautifully rounded piece without one dull moment.
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