Track: Huck Hastings collaborates with Charlie Gradon for some harmonic and shimmering ‘Turbulence’, with a launch date cleared for take off.

We here at Backseat Mafia (downunder branch) have been massive fans of Huck Hastings – his 2021 album ‘Cheers To Progress’ (reviewed here) was described as being a cinematic sweep full of love, loss and longing. Having crossed paths on many occasions with fellow Sydney singer/songwriter Charlie Gradon, Hastings has just released a new collaboration with Gradon entitled ‘Turbulence’. This is an evocative track which references the new normality of our times with the tentative return to international travel after a few COVID-bleak years of isolation.

The result is a glittering indie folk paean to uncertainty and anxiety expressed through the themes of travel and flight, with all its mysterious rituals and experiences that baffle and discombobulate. Hastings – relocated in Sweden from his hometown in Sydney – says of the track:

I wrote a lot of the lyrics while running around a lake in Stockholm. I’d take the tune out every day, and just ruminate on the idea of running away from something vs towards it…and whether or not there really was any difference.

With a mutual admiration for their work, Gradon adds he had broached the idea of a collaboration and,

Huck happened to be boarding a plane to Sweden at the time, so he had the subject matter ready to go. We threw some voice memos around, darting the timezones and before you knew we had ‘ Turbulence’.

The result is something expansive and beautiful, as striking and dramatic as aircraft vapour trails crossing bright blue skies, touched with a gentle, melancholic sense of humour. The harmonies are delicious, guitars add a muscular thrum and the chorus is sky high and expansive:

‘Turbulence’ is available to download and stream here and you can catch the duo launching the single at The Factory Theatre (Outdoor), Sydney – Sunday, 11 September 2022 (a somewhat chilling date).

Feature Photograph: Tom Stephens