Jordan Hull

Everything New is Old Again Introducing Singer/Songwriter Jordan Hull By Colin Dullaghan A singer/songwriter whose haunting, wizened voice and worldly compositions belie his tender age, Jordan Hull was born in 1989 and has studied folk and rock music luminaries practically ever since. Today, the boy who was caught transfixed by Elvis on the TV has become a student of music inspired more by the folk tradition. In fact, a listen to his debut album finds him seemingly picking up the torch from artists many, many years his senior. That esteemed group would have to include the legend Jordan\'s most readily compared to, a singer-songwriter who released his eponymous debut some four decades earlier: Bob Dylan. The analogy is apt—philosophizing troubadours with finger-picked guitar passages and strong harmonica skills are scarce these days. When the notes first hit your ears, the initial impression is often something like, \"Where the heck did this guy come from?\" As the verses build, though, surprise turns to familiarity, as old songs can seem new again, and vice versa. \"Jordan Hull\" released in early 2008, by which time its author had already written an entire other album\'s worth of songs. In his next effort, Jordan draws inspiration from sources well outside the music world, including Rilke, Nietzche and Kerouac. He approaches the notebook and the microphone determined to explore notions of authenticity, awareness and willful \"madness\", making bold choices that reflect truth as he perceives it. Judging from the insightful lyrics and intuitive melodies on this freshman outing, Jordan\'s sophomore release should prove just as effective in reconciling the many persistent, peculiar dualities of this young performer\'s music—the strange with the familiar, the disciplined with the effortless, the old with the new.