HuDost share a cure for our collective furor with their new single and video Acting Out The Outrage — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Righteous indignation is society’s most perfect perpetual-motion machine: Once it gets started, it has little problem generating its own energy and heat. Turning down that temperature is the objective of the new single from the eclectic, electric rock-folk duo. Urging us to lower the boiling of the culture wars to at least a simmer, partners-in-melody Moksha Sommer and Jemal Wade Hines issue a plea for empathy and tolerance that manages to come off as measured and wise, without succumbing to knee-jerk both-sideism or victim-blaming:
“A little bit of rain removes the static
Clear our eyes of all the panic
Take a breath from all the manic
Little space from our mistakes.”
In keeping with its message, the song starts out as an airy slow jam that gives full exposure to the richness of Sommer’s voice. But just past the halfway mark — right when you’ve started to wonder if HuDost really feel a ballad is the best remedy for social injustice — the whole thing kicks into a double-time rave-up that fully vindicates the pair’s reputation as impassioned activists:
“The antihero, the prophet and the sage,
They’re acting out the outrage
Acting out the outrage
The CEO, the politician on crusade
Acting out the outrage.”
Sommer and Hines say they were driven to create the song by Tennessee’s drag-show ban, which hit close to home for this Kentucky-by-way-of-Quebec outfit. The context is made plain in the video, which features a breathtaking transformation by Canadian queen Kiara that develops into a full-on Pride parade. But the breadth and purposeful ambiguity of the lyrics reflect HuDost’s belief that performative uproar is distorting and delegitimatizing a host of other important issues, including women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, faith, race, education, and politics in general.
“We live in a time of challenge,” they say. “Debates on social media rage on every issue, with little consideration of who those debates affect. What if we hear the perspective of people whose lives are truly being affected? What if we share the stage instead of stealing the spotlight?”
When it comes to their own music, HuDost are certainly willing to share the spotlight. They co-wrote the song with Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay, and the recording finds them joined by a host of friendly collaborators. In addition to the bedrock contributions of Sommer (on vocals, keys and harmonium) and Hines (guitars, vocals, production), the track features Hasletine’s bandmate Charlie Lowell on keys, as well as Chris Powell (Brandi Carlile) on drums, Dan Walters on bass and Kai Welch (Kacey Musgraves) on horns. Backing vocals were supplied by Liza Holbrook (Shel), Rachael Davis, Matthew Odmark, Bethany Bordeaux and Charlie (with Sommer and Hines joining in to provide even more muscle).
That loosely collaborative approach is typical of the way HuDost work. Sometimes they’re a duo; at other times, they’re a full-on band, with guest musicians of varying sensibilities and backgrounds and even dancers. The instrumentation makes room for vocals, harmonium, live looping and beats, guitars, percussion and a slew of sonic ambient effects. The result is a unique blend of pop, rock and more exotic elements, from traditional Sufi music to the folk sounds of Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, and other far-flung locales.
Cultural curiosity has been good for this pair. They met when Sommer was just a teen, on an impulsive trip from her home in Montreal to a Rumi festival put on by Turkish Sufis in North Carolina. Hines was playing there, and their meeting blossomed into a partnership in every sense: A band, a marriage, and a life together as activists fighting the good fight.
Their albums have earned critical acclaim and landed on Canadian folk, roots and blues charts, U.S. folk radio chart and the Billboard Folk/Americana chart. They’ve won an Independent Music Award for Social Action Song, and two Best of Nashville awards.
Watch the video for Acting Out The Outrage above, hear more from HuDost and check out their tour dates below, and find them on their website, Facebook and Instagram.
July 27/28 | Trails & Vistas, Tahoe, CA
July 31 | Oregon Shakespeare Fest, Ashland, OR
Aug. 1 | New World Concerts, Corvallis, OR
Aug. 3 | Water Sines Studio, Seattle, WA
Aug. 9 | BlueMoon, Vancouver, BC
Aug. 31 | Floyd Yoga Jam, Floyd, VA
Sept. 13 | Allerton Park Concerts, Monticello, IL
Sept. 20-22 | Earthwork Harvest Gathering, Lake City, MI
Nov. 2 | Pittsburgh Witches Ball, Pittsburgh, PA
Nov. 7 | Ringling, Sarasota, FL
Nov. 8/9 | TBA, Gainesville, FL
