Brighton-based singer-songwriter Nick Hudson presents his ‘Come Back When There’s Nothing Left’ EP, a 3-track offering that entails a double A-side with a unique take on Oingo Boingo’s ‘Not My Slave’ as the B-side. The stunning video for the title track, which features vocals by Toby Driver (Kayo Dot), was directed by acclaimed Scottish novelist Ewan Morrison.
“Come Back When There’s Nothing Left’ is a song about taking responsibility for one’s spiritual and moral decisions, and reducing to ascribe them to extant agents or systems. We have more resources and capacity for endurance than we may realize. And to regard ourselves as something separate or distinct from nature itself is a dangerous supposition, and one we’d be healthier and happier not making,” says Nick Hudson.
“My friend and frequent tour mate/collaborator Toby Driver introduced me to Clive Barker’s film ‘Lord Of Illusions’ whilst we both were on a Barker binge in Lockdown One. The song is in some ways inspired by that film, and by Barker’s work in general. I felt it right to ask Toby to sing the lead vocal on this. I find Toby’s performance very moving. I made a MIDI instrument out of my voice so in a sense it’s a duet, albeit a digitally-chopped and fragmented one.”
Nick Hudson is a prolific figure on the UK underground music scene and is perhaps best known as frontman of art-rock band The Academy Of Sun, who released their dystopian epic ‘The Quiet Earth’ last year to critical acclaim. Apart from music, Nick’s vast output also encompasses painting, film, and he has just completed his first novel.
Hudson has also collaborated with Wayne Hussey (The Mission) and Matthew Seligman (Bowie, Tori Amos, Morrissey), as well as members of NYC’s Kayo Dot, David Tibet (Current 93), Asva and Canadian queercore icon GB Jones. As The Academy Of Sun, he has also collaborated with Massive Attack’s Shara Nelson. Having toured 3 continents, highlights include appearances with Mogwai, Toby Driver and Keith Abrams of Kayo Dot, and Timba Harris (Mr Bungle, Amanda Palmer).
As of March 17, Hudson’s ‘Come Back When There’s Nothing Left’ EP will be available everywhere online, including and Spotify. The ‘Font of Human Fractures’ album will be released on vinyl and digitally on April 30. Both of these releases are available directly from the artist via Bandcamp.
We shared a brief conversation with Nick this week to lend greater insight into his world of magic and art.
1) Hi Nick. There are 3 tracks on your new EP. All have very strange names. Can you share a few lines about each of these tracks?
‘Come Back When There’s Nothing Left’ relates to the idea of pursuing absolute self-sufficiency, spiritually or otherwise.
‘Voyeurs Who Offer Nothing’ – these are the anxieties that perch on either shoulder, feeding you insecurities as you fall in love with someone.
‘Not My Slave’ – one would have to ask Danny Elfman [editor’s note: of Oingo Boingo], but my reading is that it proposed a loving partnership divorced of the idea of ownership.
2) You also recently released the single “Surkov’s Dream” off your forthcoming album. What’s the story there?
We created a MIDI instrument out of organ bass pedals. I wrote, recorded and mixed this song at home over a 24-hour sleepless period of intensive obsession. The lyrics are patchworked from accumulated poetic fragments that may not even have anything to do with Vladislav Surkov, in much the same way that he denied authorship of his own novel. The video was filmed in Bulgaria. I spent a month there writing my novel and took a transcendent road trip with friends across mountains and monuments.
3) What is the meaning of your album title ‘Font of Human Fractures’? How did you decide on this title?
I feel compelled here to quote Catherine of Siena in saying “the human heart is drawn by love”, which can invite multiple readings. The font of human fractures is the human heart. A visceral, throbbing muscle marbled with experience – ecstasy, infatuation, grief, loss, yearning, peace, transcendence, rapture, passion and all the fruits of love.
4) What is the best thing about creating and releasing music in this age of Covid? What is the worst?
Actually I kinda stopped making music after finishing this album a year ago as the raptors of insanity descended upon the four walls of my studio flat house arrest. Artists need stimuli and change to nudge their senses. After an initial creative explosion I now have an apoplectic aversion to making music on a laptop and will probably next venture into Tom Waits territory. You’ll find me smashing a radiator with a golf club in an abandoned cooling tower, as a fervent ambassador of analogue and space.
5) We understand that you are also a painter. Can you tell us about that and point us to your own artwork?
As a painter I’m a passionate hobbyist. I’ve always worked in visual media – film, collage, illustration. The move into painting happened relatively recently. I find it immensely cathartic as it’s a new medium for me and thus I don’t really know what I’m doing, which is exciting after working in music for so long and knowing every aspect of it better than I do my own hands. The paintings are intuitive, richly textural, interior landscapes. I almost go into a trance state when making them, I posted a bunch of them on my Bandcamp which can be found at https://nickhudsonindustries.bandcamp.com/merch (not your typical band merch).
Thank you very much for chatting with us today. Come find Nick Hudson on Facebook, Bandcamp, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify
