Nick Hudson is the British avant-pop artist (and painter, film maker and novelist) whose recent work has been informed by the war in Ukraine. He has been living in Georgia under the shadow of the war and that is where he recorded ‘For My Silence’, the new track he has given Joyzine the pleasure of premiering. It’s his first release since the ‘Lights/Svoboda’ single (2022) which was support of Ukraine, for which all proceeds were contributed to charities directly involved in humanitarian aid efforts.
Hudson says this song is about “ apologizing to those you love for the period in which you disappeared to make bad life choices, while also singling out those who stood by and did nothing in the name of friendship during this period. The period in question was the third lockdown, where I literally had a glimpse of hell courtesy of a significant mental health collapse. This is a reflective song, both confessional and confrontational. The piano for the record was tracked on a 1953 Steinway grand in Leno Studio in Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia – JZ)– a former Soviet movie studio whose live room is vast enough to record orchestras.”
On the video he says: , “It stars my friend Nika – a 17-year-old Georgian aspiring actor, and whom I’ve found myself mentoring in cinema. It was shot in a Stalin-era secular graveyard on the mountains outside of Tbilisi and incorporates footage of the actual vocal sessions in the studio, captured by Vlad Gutsin, a 20-year-old refugee from Tomsk. Gigi Koberidze and Beqa Minadze, on drums and guitar respectively, are two of the finest musicians I’ve had the privilege to work with.“
The song is built around Hudson’s impassioned voice with mercurial piano flourishes that utilise all the keys from thundering low notes to the high altitude fireworks of the eighth octave. The track will be available to buy from Nick Hudson’s Bandcamp page from 11 January and is taken from the forthcoming album Kanda Teenage Honey released on 15 March.
Nick Hudson socials: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube
For My Silence
I’m sorry brother
For my silence
But at least now I’ve been hurt
I’m certain that violence draws a curtain
Around what we have and what’s been had.
It was never my intention not to be your friend
But who can read the notes that fallen angels send when
Bleached of all light hurt can stop you seeing through
Wide open eyes.
There’s a child in here somewhere
That thought it never could be scared.
I’m sorry mother,
For I have no tattoos
Just a chart of branding and bruise
And stereo scars in binary
From what I thought was love
In its cruel finery.
It was never my intention not to be your friend
But who can read the notes that fallen angels send when
Bleached of all light hurt can stop you seeing through
Wide open eyes.
It was never my desire to be a battleground
A fraught and fought for lost-and-found
A Sunday beach-clean cinema screen
Projected on to and barely seen
By wide open eyes.
(Open eyes
Open heart
Open mind
Open mouth)
There’s a child in here somewhere
That thought it never could be scared.
Well that idea came home to roost
Vertiginous and raw
A skull plucked clean of flesh by birds
Who in kindness shouldn’t say they saw
It coming a fair few shipwrecks back.
Review by Paul F Cook
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