On October 21st, singer-songwriter and guitar aficionado Hamish Anderson is set to release his debut album, entitled Trouble. We don’t know what kind of trouble he got into making the album, but if the song you’re about to hear is any indication, the entire thing is going to be a soulful adventure. Check out the premiere for his song “Hold On Me”.
A moody, funky guitar riff. Percussion joins in, light and catchy. Then Hamish’s vocals layer in, soulful and bluesy. His feelings have a hold on him, lyrics that insinuate he may be lovesick, but could be about any desire. “‘Hold On Me’ is really a song about being taken over by something – almost possessed by it,” he admits. And it’s enthralling. What a catchy, fun way to express emotional turbulence.
Hamish had more to say about the track.
“Hold On Me” was one of the last songs I wrote for the album. I was fooling around with open tunings on the guitar and it was a riff I would just play over and over for weeks before I had any lyrics. I knew I wanted it to have a frenzied, fast tempo to it — a bluesy juke joint kind of feel.
“Hold On Me” is the first song I’ve ever used horns, I’d always liked the idea but never had a song that quite fit. We’d been talking with Steve Berlin from Los Lobos about working on the album every time we did a show with them. I had been hearing that deep sax sound in my head on this song whilst I was writing it so it was great to bring it to life with Steve after so long.
