Daniel Hugh shares his acoustically-driven debut EP release, "Stories Involving Time"
Review by Austin Sher
Releasing next week on September 4th, 2020, Daniel Hugh has officially released his debut EP, Stories Involving Time. Before you listen, make sure to read ahead for our thorough review, as well as some background information on the artist as well.
Before we fully dive in, it’s always best to familiarize yourself with an artist before listening to their work! With that being said, Daniel Hugh is an unsigned musician from Northampton, England, who accidentally wrote and recorded his debut solo release, Stories Involving Time, during the coronavirus lockdown. The music can loosely (if not concisely) be described as acoustic-led emotionally-driven indie pop.
Stories Involving Time is what happens when the unstoppable force of a mini-existential crisis meets an immovable object like the coronavirus lockdown, and the only outlet is some home recording equipment. It started with recording one song during April 2020, just for something to do, and then spiralled out of control from there. Like so much art that’s been released over the past 6 months or so, this quarantine-inspired record is full of relatable stories, hopes, and dreams.
Coming in at a track length of 6 songs, this EP explores so many different avenues within the indie pop genre. The obvious direction it went in was sparked from being locked down like the rest of the world, but it does go a bit deeper than that. Considering this is the debut release from Daniel, we have to assume that it’s not only talking about the past 6 months, but life experiences gathered throughout his life.
What you’ll experience throughout the EP are Daniel’s incredible vocal delivery, upbeat and inspiring instrumentation, and stories from his life. Considering the record is titled Stories Involving Time, we’d like to believe that it’s really a collection of life experiences formed into song. Instead of being “locked down” and waiting for things to pass, which we hope they do, Daniel took the time and found his creative outlet. Regardless of what you think of the music, it’s inspiring within itself that instead of moping and groaning, a piece of art was crafted and released into the world. That in itself is highly inspiring and we implore you all to do the same, even if it isn’t music related.
While we loved the record from start to finish, we had our favorites of course! The lead single “The Only Way” was fantastic, in addition to the album opener “Question Yourself”, and “Sunshine”. At only 6 songs, you might as well listen to the whole thing, in fact, we highly encourage it. There’s so much to wrap your head around musically and lyrically, it deserves multiple listens to really uncover it all.
As mentioned before, the record releases officially on September 4th, so make sure to mark your calendars, pre-save, and get ready for the big day! For all things Daniel Hugh and to keep up with all future releases and information, please check out the following links below.
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