Kristóf Hajós: 6:00PM

photo: Jesse van den Berg

Hungarian indie crooner Kristóf Hajós is not afraid to show his emotions on his new album 6:00PM. The sense of displacement that was the major subject on his previous record Geography is still there, but it is superseded by the realisation that ageing might become an issue. As a lyricist he takes a scalpel to his worries, making tiny incisions to take a look at what is lurking beneath.

Thankfully it is not all bad. His love life is far from over, although it would be nice if it was less complicated. And he managed to get legendary László Pásztor, of Neoton fame, to compose the music and play guitar on Goodbye Budapest, something he hadn't done for twenty years.

Musically the albums leans towards a lof-fi post-disco mood, courtesy of multi-instrumentalist Stefan Breuer, who dug deep into his bags of tricks to creature textures that people can dance to with their eyes closed, being lost into a world where they good guys are actually winning. The subtle, sensuous songs show more and different colours after each listen.

Kristóf Hajós: vocals, keyboards
Stefan Breuer: guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, theremin and anything to be found in the Tiny Room
Jack Kenney: bass, guitar, backing vocals
Sándor Szanyi: guitar
Tappin K’: drum programming
Andor Gábor: percussion (Future)
Arno Breuer: kalimba (Monsters & Sailors)
Daniel Peper: backing vocals (Lazy Heart)
Domokos Lázár: backing vocals (Viszlát, Budapest)
László Pásztor: guitar (Goodbye Budapest)
Len Leo Vincent: backing vocals (Good Kiss, Bad Kiss)
Tamara van Esch: backing vocals (6:00PM, Future)

6:00PM is released via Tiny Room Records (red vinyl:100 copies, digital). Release date: February 13.

Tracks:

1. Goodbye Budapest
2. Good Kiss, Bad Kiss
3. 6:00PM
4. Boys In Technicolor
5. Monsters & Sailors
6. Future
7. Hey, Sister
8. Lazy Heart
9. Back To The Forest

Live dates:

• 02/15 Veembroederhof 100, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• 02/18 Studio Patrick, Utrecht, Netherlands
• 02/19 Bösze Ádám (17:00), Budapest, Hungary
• 02/19 Bösze Ádám (19:00), Budapest, Hungary (sold out)

» kristofhajos.com

HCTF review of Geography.