BORN in Dallas, baptised in Tennessee, raised in LA, Brooks Hudgins had seen a lot of the States by an early age.
It was also pretty early on that he discovered all the good stuff that could come from guitars, the booze, and writing; he had plenty to express, sparring with his folks, who were hothousing him through an attempt to bust open the doors of Hollywood as a child actor.
He turned away from that path to Macaulay Culkinism, crossed the pond, studied film in Edinburgh; a fine city that ended up teaching him more about music and the club scene than the big screen. Actually, he carved out something of a name for himself as a techno DJ north of border – something of a career swerve.
His promise at the wheels of steel wasn’t quite enough to get him a visa, however; so instead of returning to the sun and craziness of the Sunset Strip, he opted for the relative (?) calm of New York. Here, the madness of his Scottish techno years and his first teenage dalliances with songwriting finally came together; hit it off. He settled back in his Bushwick studio, got recordin’ – aided by a country music podcast he put together using those screenwriting skills., the cashmoney from which funded his debut album, Drive Thru Communion, which is out next month.
He’s dropped the track “February” today, which really puts the alt. straight back in alt.country; alt.alt.country, maybe guys? Guys … ?
Any road, take a listen below. “February” comes in on an almost ambient guitar progression, all kindsa little bits of found sound and rainy-day redolent; then that voice; raw, full, strong, bruised, as he laments all the little microaggressions of a souring amour in an almost free-association. “This complex is bringing me down / And I can’t take it anymore … I always meet people like you in February,” he notes, regretfully.
“February” follows previous singles such as the gliding lo-fi lyricism and power of “Gas Station Viagra” and the steamy, slow break-up brood of “405 South” in letting us know that Drive Thru Communion will be busy shakin’ up a few notions of the genre, our minds, and pack some really quality songwriting to boot.
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