Hue Blanes has been a keysman about town for the better part of ages, playing with, among other institutions, The Bamboos, The Melodics, The New Black, The Harry James Angus Band.
Now, he’s stepping out on his own with Sad Songs Make Me Happy, a record of original material that wears Blanes’ heart on its sleeve, and showcases just how many chops one man at a piano can have. Built around the keys, the twelve tracks on this record range from darkly surreal ballads such as Blackburn Rd to whimsical almost-lullabies to psychedelic grooves where synth and drums circle each other like knife-fighters in Pale Song.
The arrangements and production are immaculate, but Blanes is at his best unadorned at the piano, unfolding his melancholic musical arrangements like origami. As a songwriter, it’s hard to fault him – he’s everywhere at once, flitting from the unembarrassed romanticism of Chet Baker to the playful lyricism of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, to the soaring rawness of Rufus Wainwright with a touch of Sinatra creeping in the edges.
Lyrically, he blends whimsy, horror and suburban angst in crooners like Ann-Marie and marries plaintive lyrics to hopeful jazz riffs for a Gershwinny lift on Mumma Let Me Go.
There’s a touch of the old school frontman here; Blanes’ voice is equally fine sneaking across a minor chord or belting out a coda at an octave that would give most troubadours testicular cancer. He can sing, and does so with a certain retro charisma – like he’s just climbed out of a bi-plane on his way to the studio.
Easy to listen to, but deceptively deep and interesting, Sad Songs Make Me Happy is an accomplished record that defies easy categorisation. I don’t even know what you’d call it: hopeful dolewave? Normcore baroque? In any case, this is an excellent, eccentric record for a songwriter that shines even in this age of boutique eclecticism; everyone is into everything, but Blanes has managed to craft something unique from the disparate worlds of suburban ennui and musical hope.
BY ARKADY LUBOVNIK
Best Track: Mumma Let Me Go
If You Like These, You’ll Love This: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, HARRY JAMES ANGUS, that one ballad by LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
In A Word: Blanesy
