Over the past twelve months, Hudson Taylor have been building quite a reputation for themselves. Brothers Alfie and Harry, aged 19 and 21 respectively, can look back at 2013 with smiles on their faces when they’re opening their Christmas presents because to the envy of many young pups out there, they can say they’ve supported The Rolling Stones and played Glastonbury. It’s not a bad claim to fame is it? Having also supported Jake Bugg and following their run of dates with Kodaline this month, Hudson Taylor set off on their own headline tour today and will no doubt round the year off in style.
Tomorrow evening the brothers, who hail from the southern suburbs of Dublin, will take their beguiling folk songs with them to the city of Bristol where they will take centre stage at The Exchange. Expect to tune in with the energy of their exhilarating live shows that will be dominated by tunes from their debut EP ‘Osea’, which a cult following had been eagerly anticipating for what will have seemed like eternity before its release in October. Are we bigging them up a bit too much? Of course not, they really do have a huge underground following – their songs have had over two and a half million YouTube views already – and their breezy charisma is injected into their hook-laden vignettes. “Our music is raw and folky, like Crosby, Stills & Nash or Simon & Garfunkel,” says Harry, the older brother of the pair. Younger brother Alfie agrees: “We write pop songs. You have to keep people’s attention.”
So if you’re at a loose end in Bristol tomorrow evening then why not pop down to The Exchange? We saw them support Kodaline at O2 Academy Bristol and we thoroughly recommend these guys. We won’t be there ourselves, but fear not, we’ll catch them up North later this week when they play at Academy 3 in Manchester, so keep an eye out for our review. Find out about Hudson Taylor and their upcoming tour at hudsontaylormusic.com