Hodge - Shadows In Blue

April 17, 2020 - Houndstooth

After a brief respite from regularly scheduled releases, Bristolian Hodge aka Jake Martin has stepped forth with the product of two years of writing, recording, and growing. Shadows in Blue both marks Martin’s first full length album and serves as trail marker, bridging what came before with what is to come in a way that is repeatable and exploratory. 

The project opens with touch, tactilely and texturally. As we blindly slip our hands into the sensory box, our fingers are greeted with a soft moss, smooth river stones, and small bits of wood bark still a little damp from the morning dew. Droplets of cool mist collect on the hairs that travel up our hands and wrists. We feel comfortable but curious. ‘Canopy Shy’ fades into ‘The World Is New Again’ and the sensory box envelops the room. We are standing on the soft moss. We open our eyes and can see the river that holds the river stones. We touch the tree whose bark we felt moments before. Synth lines materialize and we are grounded. 

‘Sense Inversion’ adds to our grounding with a dark, brooding percussive loop, reminding us of the Great Dance Floor that lives in and around us always. The soft moss continues to pad our feet as we dance to the rhythm, explore the tinkling chimes, and let the ethereal pads wash over our bodies. The titular ‘Shadows In Blue’ shifts focus to a new plane dotted with partial walls and roofless corridors ripe for sound reverberation. Wind instruments call out from different positions; the ground vibrates. Tension is built and then released onto a plateau of subtle bass and beat and vocals. 

‘Lanacut’ brings us back to a more vegetal environment, thick with dirt and growth and warmth. Echos of the past haunt this piece, like an artifact unearthed and plugged into the Hi-Fi system to see just what everything was getting up to way back when. Textures weave themselves around the plodding percussive elements directly into ‘Sol.’ Heat waves rise up to further slow the movement of our bodies. Voices and tonal drones fill the space as distortion takes over, pushing all other thoughts out.

The new vacancy is quickly occupied by ‘Lanes,’ a faster and more direct approach to movement. We are joined by an anonymous crowd of voices and drums, spinning and urging heart rates on. Thoughts of the tantric emerge; the energy becomes palpable at higher volumes. Like accidentally stumbling into the B-room, ‘Cutie’ throws the mood into a different gear, one filled with nostalgia and dramatic flashbacks to nights not fully remembered. The layers begin to stack and slide in and out of intensity, like memories being mixed together with other memories. Global pandemic or not, we miss the club. 

‘Ghost of Akina (Rainbow Edition)’ continues the trek through the Land of Raves Past and Present. Soft plucks share space with hard breaks and the deepest kick felt thus far on the record. There is a sense of urgency with this piece, like we are being led somewhere that only exists for a brief moment, like the annual synchronous fireflies of the Appalachian Mountains. We arrive in time, bask in the glory of synchronicity, and the piece fades to grey. Living up to its title, ‘One Last Dance’ brings us back to the plane of walls and corridors, but this time the landscape is more defined. City streets emerge, the woodwinds give way to brass, and a brisk wind blows us on into the night. The long night we look forward to. The long night we remember. The long night we never left.

Martin has blazed this trail for himself, leaving the markers behind for others to explore, stop at, look back to. It is a testament to progress and a journey that I am excited to continue when the next part of the way is mapped.🍍