Jack Hues to release Electro-Acoustic Works 20:20

Jack Hues wearing a black face mask
(Image credit: Jack Hues/Press)

Jack Hues is to release his second solo album Electro-Acoustic Works 20:20 on September 3 via Dawn Chorus. It'll be followed by a handful of UK show.

The album was written and recorded during the national lockdowns and follows on from 2020's Primitif and his recent Canterbury Live EP.

Says the Wang Chung frontman, "I started to write about what was there in front of me, rather than what was in my head. And what was there in front of me? Deserted streets, quiet gardens, birdsong, no traffic, no aeroplanes, Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, Brexit, Trump, queues of ambulances outside hospitals, stupefying numbers of dead and dying. 

You may like

"In response to the BLM protests here and in the US, I began to write a song, and quite early on in the process I sent it to Baby N’Sola, who has previously worked with Paloma Faith. I needed her input, and she sang brilliantly on it. The song she sang on became [first single] We Gotta Work Together, consciously evoking the spirit of Civil Rights in America in the 1970s and questioning the divisive presentation in the media of this latest stage in the struggle”.

Although the album's lyrics cover diverse ideas, Hues wanted the music to be variations on one idea. He reveals, “Side one presents that idea in We Gotta Work Together and then explores some byways before getting back to the main musical argument. Side two became The Hymn To The Moon Goddess, which is a set of alternating variations on Baby’s ad-libs and the middle-eight guitar riff from We Gotta Work Together."

The album includes contributions from Syd Arthur's Josh Magill, as well as trumpeter Daniel Cano, Pete Grogan on tenor sax, and Hues' own daughter Violet. The cover artwork is one part of a triptych created by Ron Chadwick detailing his journey with cancer and 2020. 

Hues adds, “2020 was a difficult and deadly year for many people, but it was also a time of slowing down, regrouping, re-assessing and looking to a future brighter than the past. The spirit of this album is all about that optimism”.

Electro-Acoustic Works 20:20 album artwork

(Image credit: Dawn Chorus/Press)

Jack Hues 2021 UK Shows 

Sep 16: Deal The Lighthouse
Sep 17: Margate Elsewhere
Sep 22: Brighton Komedia Studio
Sep 23: London St Pancras Old Church

Read more
Steve Hackett
Steve Hackett shares new live clip of Defector track Jacuzzi
Steve Hackett
"Chris Squire asked me to join Yes. I was extremely flattered." Astonishing revelations from Steve Hackett when we interviewed him about 2019's At The Edge Of Light
Justin Hayward
Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward announces Forever Autumn tour for October
Asia
Asia to perform first three albums over three nights at Trading Boundaries in April
Justin Hayward & Mike Batt
Justin Hayward hooks up with Mike Batt to cover The Dream Academy's Life In A Northern Town
Billy Idol publicity photo
"What’s seen me through is that unflinching belief in the music": Billy Idol launches Dream Into It, his first album in over a decade
Latest in
Cradle Of Filth performing in 2021 and Ed Sheeran in 2024
Cradle Of Filth’s singer claims Ed Sheeran tried to turn a Toys R Us into a live music venue
The Beatles in 1962
"The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have?" Record shop owner finds 1962 Beatles' audition tape that a British label famously decided wasn't good enough to earn Lennon and McCartney's band a record deal
The Mars Volta
“My totalitarian rule might not be cool, but at least we’ve made interesting records. At least we polarise people”: It took The Mars Volta three years and several arguments to make Noctourniquet
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Ginger Wildheart headshot
"What happens next, you give everyone a hard-on and then go around the room with a bat like Al Capone?!” Ginger Wildheart's wild tales of Lemmy, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Cheap Trick and more
Lizzo and Sister Rosetta Tharpe onstage
"This is my baby, my passion – because Rosetta deserves": Lizzo to play rock'n'roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in upcoming biopic
Latest in News
Cradle Of Filth performing in 2021 and Ed Sheeran in 2024
Cradle Of Filth’s singer claims Ed Sheeran tried to turn a Toys R Us into a live music venue
The Beatles in 1962
"The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have?" Record shop owner finds 1962 Beatles' audition tape that a British label famously decided wasn't good enough to earn Lennon and McCartney's band a record deal
Lizzo and Sister Rosetta Tharpe onstage
"This is my baby, my passion – because Rosetta deserves": Lizzo to play rock'n'roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in upcoming biopic
Heart publicity shot
"Don't worry, it's not the worst. It's not what you think": Nancy Wilson reassures fans concerned about Ann Wilson's onstage wheelchair
Mastodon
Mastodon add headline shows to their summer tour in the UK and Europe, but there's still no news on who's replacing Brent Hinds
Bury Tomorrow in 2023 and John Cena in 2025
This metalcore band want their new song to be John Cena’s theme now he’s a bad guy