Full Review

Hauskey & Hope Tala, One Minute Review

Andy Hopkins (AKA Hauskey) is a vocalist and songwriter that writes, performs, and produces his music that is informed by his colorful musical past. Beginning when discovering John Coltrane’s record Giant Steps in his mom’s collection. “Coltrane’s ‘Naima,’” he recalls, “was the song that raised a cluster of epiphanies, a veritable constellation of lightbulbs dazzling over my head.” Hopkins started writing songs at thirteen. He recalls, “A great song is like a great movie,” he muses, “you become so engrossed in it that you ‘become it’ and forget you’re even watching a movie. That’s what good music should do too.” Hopkins studied at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and started his own music school that developed into a fully functioning, fully staffed, multi-branch school with over 500 students. However, his inner voice kept urging him to create his path as an artist with a music career. The way led to London, where he played as many gigs as he could manage, convincing bookers that he was about to become a Very Big Deal Indeed. Shortly after, he headed back to Australia, where he bought the cheapest Toyota van he could find on Gumtree and headed right back out of the city to a small rural farm where he pulled up, put the brakes on, and set to writing more music from the singular comfort of that very van. All decisions made were to weave himself into this position, arrowing sonically adventurous pop music into the hearts and minds of the musically curious and then everybody else. The Australian artist and producer is now sharing his latest single, “One Minute,” featuring Hope Tala, via slowplay/Republic Records. The pairing is Hauskey’s first collaborative work and one that proves particularly fruitful.

Bottom Line: “One Minute” is part of a collection of tunes Hauskey has been releasing for the past eighteen months. A steady collection of low-key pop nuggets, sunshine bops, and kaleidoscopic, groove-laden, synth-studded jams. The song calls out so-called “new friends” caught making false promises and is an ode to fickle fools. Hauskey explains, “Fake, fair-weather friends. Seems to be plenty, especially in the music industry. Being from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, I don’t handle bullshit all that well and can’t stand people who aren’t genuine. This song wrote itself, but I’m pretty proud of the ‘friend to finished in one minute’ line. It says everything.”Tala adds, “I think it can be really powerful when songs are upbeat and sound fun and light-hearted but have profound lyrical meaning. Hauskey is a great writer, and it was really cool to be able to collaborate with such a talent.” “One Minute” slowly develops with a warm acoustic guitar accompanying Hauskey’s singing as he starts the song with the chorus. There are elements of electronica and pop within the production. The bridge features Hope Tala doing a speak-singing feature and the ending hook has Tala doing beautiful vocal fills behind Hauskey’s melody. Overall, “One Minute” focuses on Hauskey’s warm vocal style and in an uncluttered musical setting. This means listeners can hear even more of his deft and delightful vocal tones that are admirably supported by catchy guitar figures. That’s the short of it!