Melancholy mood: Jordan Hunt finds beauty in the blues

  • Text by HUCK HQ
Melancholy mood: Jordan Hunt finds beauty in the blues
The Monday Mix — The ‘sad-boy pop’ pioneer gets introspective for the latest Monday Mix, bringing together tracks from Sufjan Stevens, James Blake and Owen Pallett.

For our latest Monday Mix, we join forces with Jordan Hunt – the classically trained composer creating his very own brand of symphonic “sad-boy pop.”

The London multi-instrumentalist is gearing up to release his first ever solo EP Long Lost this week – a move that has been a long time coming. For years, he has been building up a resumé which packs some serious classical clout; from a Royal Academy of Music degree and a decade-long run Theo Adams Company’s musical director, to a six-year stint in art-pop orchestra The Irrepressibles. Hunt’s talents have even caught the eye of Bat For Lashes and Lana Del Rey, who both chose to collaborate with him for their live shows.

So what tracks have soundtracked this steady rise to success? “I don’t actually listen to music much, but when I do I want it to be heart-wrenching or exhilarating; to move me from my current mood,” Hunt tells Huck. “When I do listen, I definitely prefer the intimacy of headphones over blasting speakers. I’ve either shed a tear alone or been propelled to get up and live by each of these pieces.”

“I’ve been collecting these beauties for the past 16 years or so and coming back to them time and again. I’m particularly fond of the classical pieces in the middle of the mix which remind me of my days studying composition at music college. I guess that’s when I seriously began to fall in love with music’s power to reach somewhere deep and unspoken, and it still informs all of my musical decisions to this day. I hope you enjoy them.”

Nina Simone – “I Get Along Without You Very Well”
Owen Pallett – “The Great Elsewhere”
Sufjan Stevens – “The Owl and the Tanager”
Jordan Hunt – “Don’t Fly Too Far”
James Blake – “We Might Feel Unsound”
Olivier Messiaen – “O Sacrum Convivium”
Richard Strauss – “Im Abendrot”
Thomas Adès – “O Albion”
György Ligeti – “The Alphabet”
Olivia Chaney – “Holiday”
Joni Mitchell – “River”
The Irrepressibles – “In This Shirt”

Jordan Hunt’s new EP, Long Lost, is released on Friday. Tickets are still available for the record’s launch at St. Pancras Old Church.

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Latest on Huck

Exploring the impact of colonialism on Australia’s Indigenous communities
Photography

Exploring the impact of colonialism on Australia’s Indigenous communities

New exhibition, ‘Under a Southern Star: Identity and Environment in Australian Photography’ interrogates the use of photography as a tool of objectification and subjugation.

Written by: Miss Rosen

My sister disappeared when we were children. Years later, I retraced her footsteps
Photography

My sister disappeared when we were children. Years later, I retraced her footsteps

After a car crash that saw Magnum photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa hospitalised, his sister ran away from their home in South Africa. His new photobook, I Carry Her Photo With Me, documents his journey in search of her.

Written by: Lindokuhle Sobekwa

Inside New York City’s hedonistic 2000s skateboarding scene
Photography

Inside New York City’s hedonistic 2000s skateboarding scene

New photobook, ‘Epicly Later’d’ is a lucid survey of the early naughties New York skate scene and its party culture.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Did we create a generation of prudes?
Culture

Did we create a generation of prudes?

Has the crushing of ‘teen’ entertainment and our failure to represent the full breadth of adolescent experience produced generation Zzz? Emma Garland investigates.

Written by: Emma Garland

How to shoot the world’s most gruelling race
Photography

How to shoot the world’s most gruelling race

Photographer R. Perry Flowers documented the 2023 edition of the Winter Death Race and talked through the experience in Huck 81.

Written by: Josh Jones

An epic portrait of 20th Century America
Photography

An epic portrait of 20th Century America

‘Al Satterwhite: A Retrospective’ brings together scenes from this storied chapter of American life, when long form reportage was the hallmark of legacy media.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Sign up to our newsletter

Issue 81: The more than a game issue

Buy it now