Hudsun is ending 2019 with an abundance of musical memories.

Described as a ‘project defined by alternative sounds fused from influences in soul, electronic and rock music’, Hudsun is the pseudonym for musician Sam Hudson.

An early starter in the music scene, Sam received his first Radio 1 airplay at age 17 before building his musical repertoire including festival slots across the UK at Kendal Calling, Sound City and Neighbourhood and support from stations including BBC Introducing, Radio 1 and Radio X.

Speaking of his recent single release, Sam explained ‘Retrograde’ was “written about comparing a current tech-driven climate to life many years ago and never being able to reach the same high from our youth.”

To share an insight into his songwriting process, Sam shared with us 5 tracks that influenced ‘Retrograde‘.

Awolnation – Sail | Listen
Yes, this is overplayed. Yes, it’s about the only good thing they’ve done. But that doesn’t stop it being an amazing tune. The mix of synth and rock for this tune were a big influence on the direction of ‘Retrograde’. The vocal style and the simplicity of some of the patterns in this tune are also great.

Grandson – Bury Me Face Down | Listen
This artist totally ticks the boxes for what I enjoy listening to and was on my reference list when in the studio. The blues feel and the mixture of keys with fuzzy guitars is an awesome cocktail of noise and Grandson has a sexiness in all his tunes which is just cool.

Jacob Banks – Worthy | Listen
Cannot ignore this guy when it comes to vocals. My favourite singer by a long shot and although I can’t even dream of matching it, I constantly referred to this style when trying to achieve a modern soul style with my singing.

Mansionair – Easier | Listen
This is a beautiful track. The space in between the lyrics, the lazy drumming style, everything about it just works. There are some amazing build-ups in this track using white noise and synths. ‘Retrograde’ was the second time we have tried injecting some more experimental synth sounds and this was a great tune to reference.

Kaleo – I Can’t Go On Without You | Listen
Although this tune is mostly more chilled than ‘Retrograde’, it still has that big gospel soul feeling to it. The passion in his voice and some of the heavier instrumental parts is really contagious and we aimed to replicate this power in the back end of our track. Using everyone in the studio we layered a tonne of voices to try and capture that epic ballad sound.

You can listen to ‘Retrograde’ below: