Release Date: Sep 30, 2013
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Chemikal Underground
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It's not been long since RM Hubbert's last LP but he's had a transformative 12 months. Winning the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) award elevated his profile (and you'd presume confidence) considerably, so much so that he's now fronting his own records rather than asking fellow musicians to. This turns out to be very welcome indeed resulting in Breaks & Bone – his most coherent and personal record to date.
There is an earnestness to RM Hubbert’s live performances, punctuated only occasionally by the man’s dry sense of humour and defiant mischief. Whilst mid-set banter is sadly (and obviously) missing on ‘Breaks & Bone’, Hubbert, who speaks openly about his struggles with chronic depression, channels his brand of brutal honesty into his third album, a glacial sounding follow up to 2012’s ‘Thirteen Lost & Found’. Recorded in a total of seven days spread across a period of 12 months, ‘Breaks & Bone’ marks new territory for the artist.
Robert McArthur Hubbert has been an integral figure in the intertwined Glasgow music scene for over 20 years – knocking about in the 90s with teenage pal Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand fame, playing, producing and shaping the city's musical landscape. But it wasn't until this past summer, when RM Hubbert's second solo album Thirteen Lost & Found became the surprise Scottish Album of the Year Award winner, that those beyond the west coast's inner circle really began to take note. As the guitarist's profile was rising thanks to album number two, Chemikal Underground (the Glasgow indie label that has wielded as much influence on the scene as Hubby himself) had next record Breaks & Bone waiting in the wings.
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