Words by Art Jefferson
Images courtesy of Hugh
Over the past few years there has been an explosion of acts redefining the idea of ‘genre’ and almost erasing the lines and borders of what was, at one point in time, the death of experimental artists who were not able to be placed in one particular box. Yet while this nouveau movement of maverick musicians has penetrated the psyche of the masses and the music machines i.e. major labels, what began as an exciting new wave has slowly morphed into artists jumping on the ‘cool and different’ trend, only to fall victim to the same once ‘uncool’ idea of replication for the sake of trying to gain popularity. This is what makes South London-based band Hugh so unique and utterly refreshing. The foursome’s magic is a result of simply striving to make the most beautiful music possible. Their high regard for the art is evident in not only their sound but also their visual presentation, which stems from an organic place and space. It is that held value that enables Hugh to create flawless pieces of work that is nourishing to the ears and soul.
Consisting of poet, songwriter and vocalist Joshua Idehen, producer Andy Highmore, guitarist Martin ‘Tino’ Kolarides and singer Izzy Brooks, there is an emotive blanket that lays atop the music of Hugh, perfectly sewn together by each member’s thread of eclecticism. Their current EP titled “I Can’t Figure You Out” is an elegant intermix of electronica, soul, r&b, pop and alternative – all topped with an air of romanticism, easily making this record one of the highlights of the year. With the title track of the EP getting rave reviews including play from BBC Radio 6 presenter Tom Ravenscroft, this may only be the fine brush strokes leading to ultimately a debut full-length masterpiece.
Art Jefferson – Talk about the origins of Hugh? How did the project come about?
Josh – I met Andy at a party while I was trying to Shazam a song; he knew the name (it was Beach House). We got to talking about Beach House, Grizzly Bear and Cocteau Twins and Soul II Soul, and he mentioned that he was a producer. I mentioned that I was a poet and trying my hand at singing. He suggested we jam sometime. “I Can Be Your Light” was the first song. We haven’t looked back yet
Art Jefferson – Now originally Hugh started out as just two members, Josh and Andy, correct? Martin, at what point did you and Izzy join the band?
Tino – I’ve known Andy for a few years and we have played in various bands together and have always enjoyed geeking out about our favourite bands and musicians and realised we both had a shared love of old school guitar pedals, synths, soundscapes and all that stuff. So Andy asked me to put some guitars down on some music he had been writing with Josh and it kind of went from there. Pretty soon we were getting our set together for our first gig as Hugh!
Izzy came in through Josh as they both had a background on the spoken word scene in London and had seen each other perform. We knew we wanted to get a female vocalist in the band to complement Josh’s African voice and Izzy was our first choice, so she came down to Andy’s little home studio to have a jam on some of the tunes we’d been writing and just smashed it out of the park on the first day…
Art Jefferson – Josh, many people around London are familiar with your work from the spoken word circuit as well as your work with Benin City and LV. For the Hugh project, you share the vocal responsibilities with Izzy, which works extremely well. How has that process been sharing those duties?
Josh – (It’s) new, challenging and exciting. We sing in unison on stage, which is a lot more involving than I originally imagined. I’m new to it as an artist; I think we both are, but Izzy is terribly awesome at adapting and very creative with our work. She brings energy and wicked ideas to my writing.
Art Jefferson – Sonically the new EP “I Canʼt Figure You Out” is definitely eclectic but it feels like you all took the proper time to make sure that each track still complimented the last. It’s like a sonic story in my opinion. Was that something that you all were aiming for?
Andy – Definitely, I really love albums/EP’s that feel like they have some sort of narrative, and we definitely wanted to try and achieve some of that. I’m a big fan of film soundtracks, and love albums that make you feel like they could be a soundtrack to a film. I’d love to achieve this kind of feeling with our debut album.
Art Jefferson – There is also a high visual aesthetic to Hugh as well. From the photography to the actual video for “I Canʼt Figure You Out”, the visuals really stand out. Was that also something that you wanted to portray with this project?
Tino – I think the visual side of things are really important to all of us. As an artist these days I think you are really missing something if you don’t give the visuals almost as much love as the music or lyrics. Even though we’ve lost the old school days of being able to display artwork in a large format like on 12″ vinyl, we’ve gained the ability to have artwork and visuals in beautiful hi-res on glowing screens, like mini-cinemas and it’s made it so much fun to create. We want to continue a really strong visual side of things as the band grows.
Art Jefferson – There are topics spanning from love down to loneliness. What inspired some of the lyrical content?
Josh – My work as a barman in nightclub. I did a lot of people-watching back then. You also hear a lot of stories because lonely people in bars often want to talk to you.
Art Jefferson – Finally, what’s the story behind the name Hugh? It’s such a great name across the board, I’m actually envious!
Josh – We wrote “I Can Be your Light” as out first song. Andy said it reminded him of old Hugh Grant movies, the romantic/period dramas, before he went comedy, where love was always complex and understated and all speech and action had a valley of subtext beneath it. Hugh Grant was big when I was in Nigeria. We knew we didn’t want to call it Grant, and if Hugh Grant did anything embarrassing later on, like, I don’t know, slap someone, we could always pretend we named it after Laurie, who never does anything wrong. Or Jackman: everyone likes Jackman.
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