Nick J.D. Hodgson - Tell Your Friends

Rating:

‘Tell Your Friends’ feels like the first time Hodgson has truly sounded like himself.

Everyone has their own style. Nick J.D. Hodgson has spent well over a decade writing hits, first from behind the kit for Kaiser Chiefs, then as a scribe for hire, lending a hand to everyone from Mark Ronson to Rat Boy and, erm, Shirley Bassey. And while some of those songs - especially as t’Chiefs’ creative general - have been unmistakeably ‘his’, ‘Tell Your Friends’ feels like the first time Hodgson has truly sounded like himself. The results are both unexpected and spectacular.

Never short of a hook, ‘Honest Face’ is lyrically innocent, but sonically assured - a timeless, almost psychedelic hue cast throughout. ‘Suitable’ glimmers like a slowly spinning glitter-ball at a reunion dance, while ‘Tomorrow I Love You’ sparkles its way to a chorus so comfortable in its own skin it’s positively infectious. The urgent, frantic anthems of old may have largely taken a back seat for now, but as his own man, Hodgson’s innate genius shines brighter than ever before. Stephen Ackroyd