Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 19/10/09
Label: Mercury

One of the most wonderful things abut pop music is how astonishingly unpredictable it can be. Who would have thought two years ago that library-touring, uber-English Ben Hudson would be a Top 5 pop star and Kanye West henchman? You can see why he leapt at the opportunity - to paraphrase Mrs Merton: "So, Mr Hudson, what first attracted you to the million-selling, globally famous, vastly influential Kanye West?" - but he's a smart man and must have known he risked looking absurd and squandering the credibility and cult fame he'd already gained.

And, indeed, there are moments on "Straight No Chaser" where the contrivance of the change in direction becomes apparent, whether through the over-application of West's newly favoured vocoder technique, some gimmicky '80s production tricks or Hudson's embarrassing posh boy attempts at hip hop braggadocio (on the awful title track, all three). But what is most surprising about "Straight No Chaser" is just how successful and convincing Hudson's lunge for the mainstream is, how struttingly assured it mostly sounds.

It helps that Hudson is a very good songwriter indeed. Most people will already know the turbo-chorused, West-featuring "Supernova", but the album is crammed with songs that match or best it. Hudson's best melodic trick is to lull the listener with spare, downbeat verses, only to launch an outburst of furious passion in the chorus: just listen to the miniature melodrama that is "White Lies". His lyrics also thrive on contrasts, with the most intense of emotions (jealousy, bruised pride, heartbreak) placed in mundane settings, as on this line from the synth-driven, brilliant "Knew We Were In Trouble": "I watch you in the dark, in the dark / The alarm clock light flashed across your face / I wonder who one day is going to take my place".

Occasionally the Hudson/West partnership does sound as awkward as it looks on paper. The title track is the most glaring, but "Anyone But Him" is another clunker, Hudson's yelping angst clashing horribly with one of West's laziest, sludgiest raps, while "Everything Is Broken" drowns in gloopy synths and try-hard attitude. But such missteps are easily outnumbered by songs as assured as the lovely, loping "Central Park", with its melancholic acoustic guitar and yearning melody, or "Instant Messenger", a gorgeously simple tear-jerker fuelled by a crunchy beat, a heartbreak harmony and a swooningly fragile Hudson vocal.

The last time West adopted a down-on-their-luck British singer, the result was one of the more conspicuous one-hit-wonders of recent times, in the shape of Estelle. On "Straight No Chaser", Ben Hudson proves that he deserves a much longer and more interesting career.

    by Jaime Gill