Kevin Hume

Recently, I was chatting online with Scott about an old acquaintance named Kevin Hume. Apparently he is now living in Albuquerque, making music. I had no idea that he was a musician, but I did know that he had fantastic taste in music. Scott located his Myspace page and sent the link over to me. Simultaneously, Scott and I remarked to each other about how good the music was. I definitely recommend checking out his tunes, which remind me of Sean Lennon, Nick Drake, and Jose Gonzalez. Turns out his new album, The Truth About Ants and Aphids, was released yesterday via Premium Fantasy and can be purchased here.

For a sampler of the songs on the album, download this.

And here's some info on the album:

The Truth About Ants and Aphids is the latest CD by New Mexico based musician Kevin Hume (who formerly recorded under the name Black Spartacus). Written and recorded over several years, Ants and Aphids is a 12 song, 4 part song cycle rooted in the folk-pop tradition, but which also features arrangements for strings, woodwinds, and brass instruments. Carrying on in the same vein as his previous Black Spartacus releases, The Truth About Ants and Aphids was conceived as a unified work, subdivided into 4 suites, with songs which relate to one another both harmonically and thematically. The influences and styles of music on Ants and Aphids vary widely. There is the upbeat vocal pop of "Towns Where We Live" and "The Girl from Falling Water", the chamber-folk of "Glacier Bay" and the title track, and the classically influenced "Yeoman's Farewell" and "The Fauve". While performed and recorded mostly by himself, Kevin Hume's The Truth About Ants and Aphids is also graced with the presence of 12 very fine classical, folk, and jazz musicians, giving the album a lush, expansive sound. The added instrumentation also serves to give greater clarity to the sometimes complex arrangements, while never distracting from acoustic guitar and vocal which are most often at the heart of the songs.

Now I need to try and convince him to come to NYC for a show, perhaps during CMJ.

BTW, Scott went digging through an old box of pics and found this polaroid of Kevin, that he signed for some reason. In order to embarrass Kevin if he sees this post, here's the pic: