HUGH – “I Can’t Figure You Out (Live at Sofar London)” (video) (Premiere)

Following videos from Sofar’s London and Philadelphia venues, PopMatters takes you back once again to Sofar London, this time for a performance by the very promising indie quartet HUGH. Helmed by Benin City vocalist Josh Idehen, the group features Idehen on vocals with Izzy Brooks, Andy Highmore on production/keys, and Tino Kolarides on guitar.

The lead keyboard riff of “I Can’t Figure You Out”, the song the band performs in the video you can view below, is oddly catchy, but its primary value is to form a groundwork for Idehen and Brooks’ stunning vocal interplay, which puts this young group several notches ahead of its indie contemporaries. While many indie groups are content to let their vocals get overly airy and hazy (ostensibly for creating an “ambient” or “dreamy” effect that has become the mantra of anyone inspired by shoegaze), Idehen and Brooks truly harmonize and blend with each other. Whether they are singing cryptic lyrics (“You’re a dirty pair of shoes/You don’t play by the rules/You know”) or vocal filler (check the passage beginning at 2:30 in the video), the two sound as if they were always meant to sing together.

Check out the original video for “I Can’t Figure You Out” below:

I Can’t Figure You Out EP is out now. You can stream it here courtesy of Pigeons and Planes.