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Writer's pictureNew Artist Spotlight

๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ - this week: Empty Mind - Hugo Bento

Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly - an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists. ๐™€๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™ˆ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ - ๐™ƒ๐™ช๐™œ๐™ค ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค Charles, in solitude, plays with his overactive imagination. What else is one to do in a time like thisโ€ฆ? A small, seemingly inoffensive yet curious ogre crawls out from behind a sheet of rusted iron. The land is littered with enormous glass and metal spikes and shapes. An insistent breeze whips up the dust. This hunchbacked chap peers around with large bug-like open eyes, not with hesitation but with genuine intrigue. As if he has either been beamed down from another place entirely, or maybe he has simply been asleep for a brief eternity. He is a bold creature, not afraid, but inquisitive. A sunlit mound in the distance catches his eye. The tallest shiny shard has been picked for the hill. At its foot lies a man. Just a man. He plays a classical guitar in the humid atmosphere. His name is Hugo Bento. The gremlin sees this as a sign of life and therefore a reason to make something of this forgotten place. Despite the temperature, it has a chill about it. Whatever it was, it cannot have been too hospitable. Hugoโ€™s Spanish flourishes pause for a moment. A tempo is formed, percussion joins from somewhere and the hushed unison choir completes his beginning. This too is the beginning for our wrinkled friend and his ventures. Hugo sings of a mind full of thoughts, but that feels empty. A lost soul. Old Hunchy empathises. He has decided to use this wandering, lustrous soundtrack to his advantage. He will rebuild the land to how he feels it should be, but he can only use what he has. The little chap sees no one but Hugo, but he feels there is life, somewhere, as if there were other creatures but they were too afraid to show their faces. He observes only cold, simplistic structures and feels there could be more to this land were it to be kinder and more approachable. And so our friend, Wrinkles, gets to work. Letโ€™s use this time to focus on Hugo and his single, Empty Mind. A Spaniard, having spent much of his life in Spain, but also in Japan, his influences are clear. There is however, a โ€˜traditionally modernโ€™ sound to what he makes. There is heart and heartache. There is subtle brilliance in his arrangements in terms of voice, percussion and guitar. It is anything but ordinary. There is tension throughout, using almost only suspensions, rarely resolving. He is not afraid to surprise with odd time signatures thrown in from time to time. It shouldnโ€™t work. It works. There is a meditative drone of an open D string which grounds the song where it needs grounding. The cajon makes for a refreshing change from that fat backbeat we are so used to hearing in modern pop music. Despite its sleepy flow, this song has great confidence and power. Our bent-backed toiler has been busy. He has used abandoned rocks not as building materials, but as tools to cut the glass and hammer the iron into shape. He has even managed to curve some panes of glass by the heat of the sun. Clever chap! It is a wonder what he is achieving. His idea was to make buildings for people and creatures, where instead of simply being built for purpose, that they could actually look beautiful and feel welcoming. A novel and rather modern approach! The structures he was given to work with, might seem to us like a forgotten future. To Old Hunchy, it is a departed past. He is dead set on creating an unknown future, which to us would maybe feel more like the distant past. He has no past from which to draw. The busy little man makes rooves from sun-curved glass (yes, I say rooves - leave me alone). He makes columns, pediments and porticos from steel. He deconstructs the grid-like layout of the forgotten land and makes it more interesting by creating winding streets and lanes. He sweats. He continues. He would not dream of asking Hugo to help. Hugoโ€™s soundtrack is the much needed impetus to go on. Iโ€™m sure many of us can relate to the struggle of manual labour without musicโ€ฆ Hugo starts to smile as he sees what is before him. As our little gremlin completes some final touches in the way of ornamentation - acorns for interest; gargoyles modelled on himself, people and things start to filter through the snakes of newly laid streets. They sway with the rhythm of the music. Right foot forward, left foot forward, left foot back, pause. Left foot forward, right foot forward, right foot back, pause. I see your cogs turning as the image comes to life. Hunchy joins Hugo on the hill to admire his own labours. Hugo Bentoโ€™s work is impressively different. How could I possibly have come up with this absurd scenario had I not had food for thoughtโ€ฆ? Listen to ๐™€๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™ˆ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ on the ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ Spotify playlist HERE! Listen to ๐™€๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™ˆ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ on the ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ Apple Music playlist HERE! Follow ๐™ƒ๐™ช๐™œ๐™ค ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค on Instagram HERE!

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10 Comments


someformofmusic
someformofmusic
Apr 08, 2021

Fantastic material all the way 'round, Charles and Hugo! ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Apr 08, 2021
Replying to

Thanks man!

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Simone Vignini
Simone Vignini
Apr 07, 2021

Amazing written (as always๐Ÿ”) by the Pulitzer award Charles, and the Hugo Bento song deserves it!!!๐ŸŽธ๐ŸŽง๐ŸŽธโœŒ๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Apr 08, 2021
Replying to

Haha! Thank you. That would be nice. The song does indeed deserve it.

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velvet blitz
velvet blitz
Apr 06, 2021

reading this makes me crave for Paella.

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Apr 07, 2021
Replying to

Ha! Writing it made me crave Italy in the hot sun.

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rodfritzmusic
rodfritzmusic
Apr 06, 2021

Great work, it's like a Tolkien novel and that's a compliment. Love it guys ;)

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Apr 07, 2021
Replying to

Ha! You're not the first to say it. Thanks Rod. Great song. ๐Ÿ˜Š

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Edward Corrado
Edward Corrado
Apr 06, 2021

With every review you take me somewhere i did not expect. Excellent Charles and Excellent Hugo Bento!

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Charles Connolly
Charles Connolly
Apr 07, 2021
Replying to

Thanks Ed! It was fun to write. Quite absurd. Hugo gave me the inspiration.

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