Dan Hubbard Vol. 1 Letting Go
Dan Hubbard is releasing a new EP this week, Vol. 1 Letting Go, of original songs that lean in a pop and sometimes R & B direction in terms of rhythm and cinematic production choices, while all along the way the songs express themes of the blatant struggle of letting someone go and trying, not always successfully, to find comfort again.
Dan is a career musician who’s sung with Maggie Rose and released 9 albums and counting. On this one we delve into the despairing emotions of breaking up while trying to hold on, and remembering what was good about being together.
“Remember” is a gently soaring love song, a song of someone looking in from the outside at someone who’s struggled and fallen and gotten up again, sung with shades of Ryan Adams in his vocal tones. “Hard times will come again, don’t forget that I was here with you, and I’m here with you.” Horns in the mix and soaring choruses with a hit of gospel in the heights add grandeur to this song.
Hope starts to fade a little as “Sad Eyes” adds a pop rhythm track and more cinematic production in a heartfelt song about just being together with someone for now because life stinks: “Cause I’ve seen your sad eyes all over town / You’re a mess like me and I know right now / I just want someone to be sad with.”
Low cello and cinematic grounds “Bind Up” in a song that pleads on its knees for things to get better: “your love is better than wine, stronger than death, bind up the broken hearted, amen.” “Open Up” follows this with gentle harmonies, punctuations of guitar, in an observation that love seems more elusive than it should be: “Does anyone want to love someone / Seems like we just want to be right / To be justified.” Cinematic violins and bell sounds add a melancholic, snowy day feel as the electric guitar makes runs. By this point in the EP, we are exploring the sorrow together.
This EP is about letting go of someone you love, in ways that are torturous and against what we truly want to do, deep down. There’s not a whole lot of hope but there’s still a strong will to stay. There may still be love underneath it all, but the question Dan asks throughout the EP is, can we find our way back to it, or are we just fated to struggle alone along diverging paths. It’s raw and it’s real.
Find more details and show dates here on his website: https://danhubbard.net/
Vol. 1 Letting Go was produced by Dan Hubbard and James Treichler; engineered by James Treichler at Wave Upon Wave (Champaign, IL) and Earth Analog (Tolono, IL); mixed by Ken Coomer and Gabe Masterson at Cartoon Moon Studio (East Nashville, TN); and mastered by Jonathan Pines at Private Studios (Urbana, IL).
Musicians on the EP are Dan Hubbard on vocals, guitars, and keys; James Treichler on percussion and glockenspiel; Matthew Pittman on electric guitar; Tim Kramp on drums; Stephen Tassio on bass; Kayla Brown on vocals; J’Lyn Hope on vocals; Reginald Chapman on trombone; Ryan Easter on trumpet; Andrew Gutauskas on baritone sax; Genevieve Knoebel on violin; and Aaron Wittrig on cello.
