Songwriter, producer, musician, performer, head of a record label, and a former member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Australian rock musician Hugo Race has worn many hats. He releases his latest album `I Made It All Up For You` this month with his Italian band Fatalists who include Giovanni Ferrario (Scisma ,PJ Harvey) on guitars and synth, Francesco Giampaoli (Brutture Moderne) on bass and Diego Sapignoli (Sacri Cuori) on percussion. Calabrian violinist Massimiliano Gallo added layers to the mix along with Michelangelo Russo on electric harmonica, Nicola Baronti piano, synthesizer (Bad Dreams, The Comet Drops) Simone Sandrucci banjo (Dream Country Home), and Jennifer Charles (singer of New York band Elysian Fields).
The album opens with `Against The World` a defiant almost challenging reverie about a couple`s isolation from society and their bond through a shared struggle, cause, or deep personal connection. A delightfully melodic rolling mid paced earworm to open with. Jennifer Charles trades breathtaking vocals with Hugo on `Broken Love` which advances slowly with whispered words about heartache and dissolution.
`I Tread Softly` almost shimmers initially before gaining traction and becoming dreamy and introspective. A number that for me had an americana noir sensibility and an almost ghostly vibe both musically and lyrically. The Americana tinged `Born To Fly` whose title maybe a metaphor for being destined for greatness, freedom, or adventure but has at the same time a slight darkness about it.
`Bad Dreams` is quite hypnotic and seems to tell of the narrator leaving their love as together there is a darkness, gloom, or shadow that envelopes them. We enjoy a sense of unease with the percussive `45 In The Shade` which kind of predicts an impending disaster, doom, or a sign of major trouble on the way.
`I Collide` has a late nite jazz texture with Jennifer Charles adding her ethereal voice to this number that has a captivating melancholic sense and reeks of seclusion and solitude. There`s a sense of our true existence in comparison to the wider universe with the glistening `Open Field` a deeply philosophical probe but shared in a thoughtful pondering manner.
`The Comet Drops` seems to touch on a couple whom the narrator feels should live their lives entwined but seems to allude to a sense of uncertainty which the accompanying music mirrors. There`s a sense of the perfect location, a sanctuary, refuge, or haven with the final country tinged cut `Dream Country Home`. A place of nirvana or paradise.
Hugo Race has what I’d call a lived in voice, wonderfully expressive and i`ve seen him described elsewhere as “enigmatic, petulant … whose bleak visions stabbed at the heart of the human condition”. This latest album with The Fatalists `I Made It All Up For You` is emotionally intense, has a remoteness at times but is wonderfully narrative and atmospheric. A real lo-fi slow burn and a must listen.
Rating 9/10
