We went about the recording "Trick of the light" in much the same way as the first album ( "Romance&Melodrama" ), by working remotely from our respective studios in Derry and Carlow, and bouncing sessions back and forth. We went through a few different stages in the making of this album, building up, breaking down and rebuilding the arrangements for the songs, changing direction a few times in the process.
At Shayne's (Byrne: producer / collaborator) suggestion, We stripped the songs down to their bare bones, and rebuilt the songs using the guitar in a slightly different way to the first album. Since the songs are generally a bit darker in tone, I felt like it was important to reflect this in the music. I set about basing most of the songs around the electric guitar (as opposed to the acoustic-driven first album), taking inspiration from players like Johnny Marr (The Smiths), Andy Summers (The Police), and Geordie Walker (Killing Joke) in how I approached the use of effects and how to build an arrangement of guitars to create something a little different.
Hopefully it's something that people will enjoy & connect with in a meaningful way.
The anticipation built from the release of 3 singles off of A Trick of the Light (Cave In, Cold Bones and Fall Asleep) has gained Hutch some playlist placements from Hot Press and IMRO to name a couple and radio play from Martin Bridgeman on KCLR and Stephen McCauley on BBC Ulster being two champions of Hutch's new music.
