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The Preacher

by Jordan Hughes

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1.
Thank You 00:32
2.
Convoy 02:49
3.
Scapegoat 06:07
4.
5.
The Preacher 01:44
6.
7.
8.
Step Back 02:40
9.
Interlude 01:00
10.
11.
Wild Peony 03:07
12.
Zak 03:16
13.

about

There are albums that are meticulously crafted over the course of years. Then there are those that are seemingly built to spill, demanding they exist as soon as possible. The Preacher, the first album released by British Columbia ne’er-do-well Jordan Hughes under his own name, is most certainly the latter. Without mincing words, the album emerged from the wreckage of a complete mental breakdown.
Hughes, a fixture in Vancouver’s indie, punk and even comedy circles for most of his adult life, wrote and recorded most of the album in the midst of a manic episode that included an arrest, a night in the drunk tank and a subsequent stay in the psych ward. It was recorded almost entirely in the week after being discharged from the hospital.
“This album was manically written while I was in the psych ward without a phone, my Nintendo Switch, or any convenient distraction,” Jordan says. “One can only watch so much Corner Gas without wanting to kick a boot through the TV. All I had was my journal and an out-of-tune piano, that some people would scream at you if you played it too loud.”
The result is a collection of timeless pop songs that are intimate, immediate, rough around the edges and strangely refined. Musically, the work touches on everything from the confessional paradoxes of vintage Modest Mouse and the warm, big room pop of Belle & Sebastian to singular auteurs like Daniel Johnston, Mark Linkous and Jonathan Richman.
Peculiarly, the mental breakdown that inspired the album had, in Jordan’s mind, its own coherent logic. As such, while the listener can’t really understand it, we still see the semblance of a running narrative throughout The Preacher’s 13 tracks.
“Without giving too much away, I thought I was in The Truman Show sequel written by Derek Cianfrance and directed by Terrence Malick,” Jordan explains of the breakdown that kicked off this new chapter in his life. “I thought Tom Hardy helped me out a few weeks ago at the boxing gym, I thought Tyler, the Creator’s IGOR was made to get my attention, and I thought Vampire Weekend’s Father of the Bride was an album written directly for me and about the last 5 years of my life.”
That strange paranoia saw Jordan go on a rampage through his family’s suburban neighbourhood, concluding when he threw a garbage can through a neighbour’s car. “It was my way of saying ‘Scene! Wrap it up! cut!’” he explains.
Fortunately, in the aftermath of the breakdown Jordan is picking up the pieces. He’s on a two-year psychiatric plan, and is currently completing community service for his suburban smash-up. Still, perhaps the best thing to come out of it all is The Preacher, a collection of shockingly raw and strangely endearing pop songs that represent a young man shedding off any form of artifice and choosing to live authentically as himself.
“Welcome to my mind where bad thoughts are demonized and no thought goes unnoticed,” he concludes. “Thinking too much is my specialty. I told myself that this would be my last cry for help, and I really hope it is. Welcome to my Place Beyond the Pines.”

credits

released December 13, 2019

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Jordan Hughes Vancouver, British Columbia

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