Biography

Kooks guitarist Hugh Harris’ stunning self-titled debut solo album is one of love and loss, strength and tragedy, introspection and self-discovery. It’s an “intimate diary of the last ten years,” but also a tour de force of imagination. On a record embracing the chamber orchestrations of Beirut or Sufjan Stevens, psychedelic pop, Dr Dre syncopation, Paul Simon’s exotic worldly tones, Debussy arabesques and Disney theme strings, you’ll find songs about train crashes, alien love affairs and dizzying lyrical montages from sixteen years in one of indie rock’s greatest modern success stories; snapshot scenes from Morocco, St Petersburg, Singapore. It’s been a slow-burning passion. Always a valued contributor to The Kooks’ song-writing process, over the last decade Hugh learnt to arrange strings and horns himself, keen to capture the clear, rich sounds in his head.After losing both his parents within the space of a year, he travelled to the Pool Chatti Ashram in Rishikesh, India and within those walls and with a new-found sense of peace with his surroundings and his current place in the universe, he carved his self-titled debut solo album. Hugh talks about the process of recording this album saying - “The hard work is done, it’s not mine anymore,” he says. “I’ve put it down, it’s a weight off my shoulders and it’s exactly how I want it to sound. It’s the perfect record to describe my experiences and my life.”