Who the hell is Hudson? This is pretty damn good!
Artiste: Hudson
Nationality: American
Album: Crimson
Year: 2012
Label: Self-released
Genre: Folk
Tracks:
The belfry
Foreboding times
Meeting place
Secure the ropes
From afar
Five hundred strong
The falconer
Ones we've lost
Crimson fleet
The slaying of the king
Our children's future
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Apparently this, along with their debut, was written and recorded by Hudson in one week!
Initial impression: More electronic rock, maybe indie than what I'd call folk. But I like it.
Best track(s): The belfry, Secure the ropes, Five hundred strong, Ones we've lost, The slaying of the king
Worst track(s): None
Comments: When I recently reviewed the Eagles' “Desperado” a while back, I noted that it was, in my experience, the only country concept album I had ever come across. Of course I'm sure that's not true, but as I said at the time, country is not my genre of choice and I know only a little about it. Folk, similarly, is an area I seldom dabble in, so I couldn't tell you how many, if any, folk concept albums there are (though given that folk music is generally more based on storytelling and handing lore down through the generations through the medium of music, I'd say probably more than a few) but this is one.
I'm finding information on Hudson hard to come by. The only entry I can find on its apparent founder, John Boswell, mentions something about sampling voices from the likes of “Cosmos” and uploading them on YouTube, and something called the Symphony of Science? Seems this is a side project from that. It's something I haven't listened to, or been aware of though, so I can't comment on that. What I can tell you is that Hudson appear to be a folk group or project, based in Washington and helmed by the aforementioned Boswell, together with Will Crowley. Katherine, either his sister or wife as she shares the same surname, guests on some vocals. The album is, as I say, a concept, and the concept is that of a revolution led by a castaway against a tyrant ruler.
Indeed, it opens on the sound of crashing waves, which presumably introduces us to the castaway hero, with a nice acoustic guitar coming in as
The belfry gets going, and if it's Boswell singing then he has a nice, indie-flavoured voice which is very easy to listen to. The music gets quite electronic, and I would even at this early stage place it more in the indie category than folk, but that's just me. The castaway would appear to have suffered amnesia, as he asks
”How did I get here/ Where was I before?” and things get more uptempo with the addition of some nice banjo for
Foreboding times, with a big lazy slide guitar on
Secure the ropes putting me in mind of Chris Isaak's big hit.
I have to give Hudson kudos, because this is the first concept album I've heard, or reviewed, where, without the liner notes to hand, I can easily follow the storyline. The vocals are sung clearly and distinctly, and with passion, and the lyrics carry you along the quest for freedom and liberation on which the castaway has embarked since arriving in this strange land. There's some nice electronic feedback used on the album too, with appropriate sound effects like wind, surf and thunder, and part of it is laidback folk and then another side is intense electric rock, which runs together really well, held in place by the often almost imperceptible gossamer threads of progressive rock.
Five hundred strong introduces both a hint of country and reggae into the mix, with what may be samples in the background (sounds like turntable scratching, though it may not be), and the overall effect is to give you the impression of Simon and Garfunkel on a tropical island, riding on horses with six-shooters by their side. Weird, but endearing. It's in this song that we first hear the dulcet vocal of Katherine Crowley, whose voice is very suited to country music: it has that twang you associate with Emmylou, Dolly et al. She stays behind the mike for
The falconer, with some more nice slide, then Boswell takes over again for
Ones we've lost, with some lovely piano, a true ballad.
The album wraps up with an almost metal puncher in
The slaying of the king, showing the breath of styles and genres Hudson cross, and just to underline the point the closer is a Spanish/Mexican/Mariachi tune whose first half is instrumental, even though it only clocks in at just over two minutes in total. A celebratory ending, toasting the end of the king and the success of the revolution. And indeed, the success of this concept.
Overall impression: An overlooked little gem. Lots of different styles, from rock to folk and country to metal. Hmm. Must seek out their other album.
Intention: Like I said, I'll be interested to have a listen to the debut, “Eastward”. Which is also a concept album...