Jenny Hudson - Just When You Stopped Looking



Title: Just When You Stopped Looking
Release Date: September 4th 2011
Recorded: July and August 2011, London, UK
Genre: Acoustic pop/Ambient/Easy Listening
Length: TBC
Label: Black Cat Records
Produced by: Jenny Hudson

Track List
1. Seize The Day
2. They Build Us Up, To Watch Us Fall
3. Chantez Pour L'instant
4. I Still Miss You
5. Remember The Way We Were
6. Break The Fall
7. Shining Light
8. Just Love
9. Reaching Out to Touch the Sun (Featuring Yumi Takahashi)
10. In This Moment
11. Make Me Feel Beautiful

[Bonus Tracks - Deluxe Edition Only]

12. Rescue Me (by Yumi Takahashi, originally performed by Yumi Takahashi and Jenny Hudson, Jenny's vocals only)
13. Seize The Day (Acoustic guitar version)
14. Seize The Day (Live from the Chaos Awards III)
15. Chasing The Light
16. Wooden Boat

Jenny Hudson - The Artsit

Born on the 17th of June 1989, 22 year-old Jenny Hudson was brought up in a small town, Mountain View, in the State of Arkansas, which had a population of around only 3,000. Growing up in such a small tight-knit community, Jenny developed the modest, quiet persona which she still lives by to this day, not allowing potential pop-stardom and big celebrity gatherings to change either her or her approach to her music.
Growing up on the town farm, which was situated away from the main residential areas, Jenny didn't get the chance to integrate with as many youngsters as she'd have liked to in her formative years. The subsequent unpopularity during her school days led to her spending most lunch breaks taking guitar and piano lessons, and taking part in the school play as pianist, or part of the orchestra.
After graduating high school, Jenny moved to New York City in October 2009 to pursue a musical dream. Struggling to find work and keep her apartment, She auditioned for Lucy Tyrell and Greg Walls at Junction Records. Whilst they turned down the chance to sign her at the time, Tyrell kept in touch with Jenny, helping her secure the chance to tour with 4th Street Band from January of 2010.
After impressing whilst touring with 4th Street Band, Malory Evans of Shooting Star Records offered Jenny a two album deal, which she quickly signed. She released her debut album, Dreamland, on the 18th of September 2010, leaving her with one more album remaining on her contract. Whilst the album failed to chart well, it was well received by those who did hear it, and Jenny found herself developing a small fan base.
On November 27th Jenny released her debut single Fallen Grace, which managed to reach a high of 3rd on the Top 20 Airplay Charts, her most successful moment to date. Not long after the release of her debut single, she went to London to go attend the 1st Chaos Awards. This was the first time that she met Jack Straw. They clicked immediately and their subsequent relationship led to Jenny turning her back on the industry for the remainder of the year, as well as the start of 2011.
In May of this year, the couple announced that they were to split amicably following the deterioration of the relationship with Straw spending increasing amounts of time on the road. In the aftermath, Hudson released Wooden Boat, a single which reached a high of 12 on the Airplay Chart.
As of July 2011, Jenny made her comeback, by announcing that she was to record a sophomore album having parted company with SSR and signed to unassuming indie label Black Cat Records. Her modest, down to earth approach led to her winning over many new fans, and her taster single Seize the Day was praised by members of Electrodeath and Ryan Ross Hernandez, amongst others.
After being out of touch with the industry for such an extended period, Jenny Hudson knows that there's a chance she'd have been completely forgotten amongst the many great artists currently around. Only time will tell if her new material is strong enough to win a place in the hearts of the new breed of female solist fans.


The Album - Background

Just When You Stopped Looking is set to be the second full length album release from acoustic singer/songwriter Jenny Hudson. The quiet, unassuming 22 year-old songstress from a small community in Arkansas, USA, is looking to follow up her debut, 2010's Dreamland with a more mature sounding album. Just When You Stopped Looking will be released on Black Cat Records, Hudson's new label, on the 4th of September 2011. The lead single from the album, Seize The Day, a triumphant yet ambient piano-led ballad, was released on Sunday 7th August, as a taster an promotional tool for the new album. The single has received widespread acclaim, especially since its performance at the Chaos Awards III on the day of release, leading to a belief that Jenny's second album will be better received than her debut.
As Jenny herself has pointed out in a number of interviews since her return, we now live in an era where the charts are dominated by strong female singer/songwriters. The likes of Michelle Green, Alicia Lena, Stacey Walton and Katie Coyle have all topped the charts since Jenny's last release. Whether that means that her follow up will receive more attention, or simply intensify the scrutiny and inevitable comparisons that it will be subjected to, remains to be seen.
One bonus for the young American however, is the fact that the modest reaction to her debut means that she perhaps won't feel the pressure of others who have a lot further to fall.
Just When You Stopped Looking features an array of different sounding ballads and acoustic pop tracks, as Jenny makes the most of her undeniable talent on both guitar and piano, striving to record an album on which she plays and sings almost every note and word. From the high energy cheery Shining Light, to the low-key, emotional memorial I Still Miss You, the album will surely have songs that will appeal to all corners of the growing fan-base of young female solo artists in the current market.

The Process - Recording the Album

In late June 2011, Jenny Hudson made her way to London, UK, to start work on her sophomore album. Such was her desire to record a modest, honest piece of music, with no bells and whistles, and no complications, that she opted to hire the almost unheard of Mythical Worlds Studio in the heart of the city. Despite being offered the chance to hire a producer for the album, Hudson opted to put to use the skills she had picked up from Fathers Of Fury frontman Jack Straw in the past year, and attempt to produce the album herself, with only the occasional professional advice from the on-site sound engineers.
Recording for the album was very sporadic, in the nature of it being an honest piece. Jenny felt that the album would work best if she recorded songs as soon as she felt they were right. This meant that there would be no over-polishing and "perfecting" of songs, giving the album a more organic and raw feeling. It also meant that whilst some times there would be no songs recorded for over a week, at other times there were three or four recorded in a continuous 24 hour period.
Overall, the period of recording spanned only 6 weeks. Quite a short time for an album to be recorded in, especially when songwriting is included in that timescale. However, such was the intended nature of the album, that Jenny always believed it would be a shorter than average process.
"I didn't want this to be a huge pop production. I have nothing against those who release massively polished, brilliantly produced albums, but for me, it was just about me and my instruments. What you will hear on this album is almost all me...all heart and soul, and all honest."
Spending time on both sides of the glass means that Jenny hudson feels more attached to this album than to any of her previous work, and ensures that she poured everything she had into it, a notion which can be heard in every single track.

Jenny's Thoughts

"I feel like there is a lot of pressure and no pressure on me at the same time here. On one hand, this is my sophomore album, and after the lukewarm reception to Dreamland, I feel as if I'm in a "now or never" type of situation. It's as if this album needs to impress, or else I can say goodbye to a career in music in my own mind. On the other hand though, I feel as if I have a fresh start. A lot of people won't really have heard a lot from me, and with the growth of the industry for girls who are doing the type of thing I'm doing, I feel like I will perhaps get the opportunity to have a fresh start, and get some real exposure this time around. Last year it was only really Alicia [Lena] and Stacey [Walton] flying the flag for girls doing this sort of thing. Now though, we have the likes of Katie [Coyle] and Michelle [Green] also getting in on the act, and doing amazingly well too. I think that will help to raise the profile of my album alone.
"If I could start by talking about what the title means to me. Just When You Stopped Looking is a symbolic title to me, which plays on the way my career currently is. From a fault which is all mine, I feel like I was just starting to be forgotten when I decided to come back. People who knew of my debut album may have been looking for me to create a follow up before now, and hope was probably starting to fade that I'd release anything else. When that happens, it's only natural that people move their attention to someone else. So "Just When You Stopped Looking" is suggestive of the fact that I hope people haven't forgotten me, and even if they have started to, just as they stopped waiting for new music, here I am with more.
"In terms of the artwork itself, I opted for something easy, simple and quite serene looking, as I feel like it fits the the album themes. That picture of me was taken last October, and it was taken by a photographer friend of mine who was trying to create an image of "rebirth", through the blossoming of that beautiful flower. I don't want to sound all hippy-like here, but I feel that this album is like a rebirth for me. This is my second chance, so I called up my friend, and he was more than happy to allow me to use the picture after I told him the reason, relating it to his original artistic intention.
"Obviously the most important part of any album though, is the music itself, and thankfully, that's what I am most proud of this time out. I decided that my music was perhaps a little bit too literal last time. I always found music easier to write if I was telling a story, but I think now, looking back on what I've done before, that it was perhaps a little immature sounding. If I'm always singing songs where "this happened, and then this, and then this" interspersed with a catchy chorus, it becomes more like poetry than music in my own head. So this album only has one track like that, which is I Still Miss You, because it's an ode to my grandparents, and one grandfather in particular, who I lost suddenly recently.
"My own favourites on the album are; Seize The Day, which is a song which I loved so much I released it as the comeback single. It's an empowering ballad with the message that you should always fight for what you want in life, and never give up, no matter how often you fall. Most of the tracks have, in some way, a message behind them like that, which I reckon is better than being as literal as I was on Dreamland. My other favourite is Reaching Out to Touch The Sun. I got a rather out of the blue chance to work with Yumi [Takahashi] on one of her songs, which I snapped up. Whilst there, I asked if she'd like to feature on my album too, and she was a wonder to work with. Really she was. I love the way that track turned out.
"Most of the album is played out on the solitary acoustic guitar, but obviously I incorporate a piano into a lot of what I do as well. That much hasn't changed.
"Overall, I feel like this album is a lot more advanced than Dreamland, whilst still managing to be a lot simpler and a lot more stripped back. I learned a lot from touring with Jack, and I have managed to incorporate a lot of that into this. whilst also maintaining a notion of "me". That was the most important thing. This album is all me, it's my blood sweat and tears, even despite the cliché of that, and I'm amazingly proud of it.
"I hope everyone else likes it."

On the Album

Jenny Hudson: Guitar, vocals, piano, percussion, production.
Yumi Takahashi: Vocals.
Christopher Brent: Drums.
Yuri Deschamps: Back up production.

Artist: Jenny Hudson
Track: Seize The Day
Genre: Ballad
Instruments: Piano
Length: 4:11

The opening album track, Seize the Day, is a very slow paced, ambient track. It features only Jenny Hudson and her piano, without a percussion section to back her up, and no backing vocals. It is risky to attempt such a stripped back song in any album, but on a comeback album, and as the first track in particular, Jenny is being very brave indeed. It shows however, the belief that this talented youngster has in her own songwriting and musical skills that she believes the song works well as an opener.
The track begins with a few very slow minor key piano chords, which are played very softly, and interspersed with the occasional high note which just adds a little feel of serenity amongst the reasonably dark tones of the minor chords. Jenny's voice can be heard about 20 seconds into this section as she begins to hum, in a key which is just above that of the chords. She hums a melody which is very slow, very deliberate, haunting, and somehow distant.
Eventually, the humming dies away, and the piano chords, although they are the same chords played in the same progression as in the intro, are played much more deliberately, and sound more jumpy, as Jenny's husky voice comes in, singing the opening verse in a very slow and laboured sounding style. In each of the verses, the first line is sung very slowly and smoothly, like a long flowing progression, before the second line becomes a lot shorter in terms of the pronunciation of each word, at which point the piano notes become even more staccato in style. The third line of each of the verses is sung a cappella, and the piano rejoins just before the start of the fourth line, with the fourth fifth and sixth lines repeating the same as the first three.
After the first verse, the piano returns to the same style as the intro, and then plays a little interlude, higher in key than the rest of the song, which suggests a chorus is coming. An artistic anticlimax is used here though, as the second verse comes in exactly as the first.
The only difference in the second verse, because it precedes a chorus, is the fact the fourth line onwards is sung in a louder and higher pitched voice by Jenny. On the last line she even hits an impressively high note on the word "March", as that line goes very high and then returns to a lower key before the end of it.
Each chorus follows straight on from the verse without a pause. The piano piece during the chorus is in a major key, contrasting beautifully to the minor verses, and creating a really uplifting and encouraging sounding chorus, which drives home the message, that you should fight for what you want or need in life, no matter how downtrodden you feel. The vocals in the chorus are also in major key, and are a lot louder than the verses, and less husky. They stay at a steady level, until the "Just Seize The Day" line, which is again, a series of lovely high notes, showcasing this girl's vocal talents. The final line "Seize the Day" stands alone from the chorus, and is sung a cappella, with a solitary minor note from the piano on the word "Seize".
During the bridge section, (starting from "And when you fly, don’t forget to soar so high") there is a considerable change. The actual pace of the song changes during this bridge...not anything over the top, but certainly modestly noticeable, as it gains pace. Again, this is sung in a key which seems to promote hope and desire, and sees Jenny's voice sound very pleading, passionate and full of desire.
As the final verse is finished, Jenny briefly returns to the same piano piece as in the intro, for only a few seconds, before she plays an angelic sounding little high note progression, and then finishes on a very uplifting chord.

Well guys, it's been a while, and I've had a lot of growing up to do over the last few months. You could say I've been learning the ways of the world I guess, but I'm back now at last. I loved the feedback you all gave me from "Dreamland", and now I'm so happy to be back in business and working to get a follow up album out.
I was very keen to get started to get my toes dipped back into the industry, so I decided to release a single at the beginning of the week, so most people have likely already heard the album opener. However, there are some slight changes from the single version to this one. I felt that the original verse two felt clumsy, so I've fused the first two lines. Also, the chorus was re-recorded to be a lot more upbeat, positive and up-lifting. I think it just makes it brighter, and brings it in line with the desired message I was trying to convey.
Why is this the first song on the album? Well, to be honest, it was the first one I wrote. Each of the songs, without a word of a lie, were recorded as I wrote them. Again, that adds to the organic feel I mentioned yesterday. I was really proud of this track, mostly because it was the first real song I had written in ohhhh, such a long time, and it all felt so natural to me for the first time in a long while.
This song was recorded, as I say, in the immediate aftermath of it being written. I had sat in the studio all day with my feet up just humming a tune in my head, and I knew it was wedged in. So as soon as I got some suitable lyrics, I knew I had to dive behind a microphone and just lay the track down. I'm exceedingly happy with how it came out. It sounds fresh to me, like the break I've had was worth it.
It also sounds very stripped back though. The song is very ambient, and it's just me and a piano. I decided to leave the guitar for this track, because it just didn't feel like it quite fits in. Don't worry though, my album will still be mostly acoustic guitar based, this song just felt like it needed a twist to it, and I hope it worked.
The song is about fighting for what you want in life. Strictly speaking, the lyrics refer to love and relationships, but the song means so much more. It's simply an ode to fighting for your dreams, and not being afraid to fall or fail when you reach for the stars. It may be a quiet and slow ballad, but I think it is very uplifting still. It makes me smile, and I hope it makes you guys smile too.