Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Reuben Hester, Echoism Records 2021.
Reuben Hester hails from Manchester, England and this single is my introduction to his work.
He spent three years singing with the band China Lane, who started out busking on bustling Market street in the centre of Manchester.
They used to attract large crowds with their up-lifting electropop but last year the band called it a day and Reuben branched out on his solo career.
He decided to display his talents on a TV show called Little Mix The Search which is run by the super-group girl band Little Mix.
The idea of the show is to create the next big group, it’s a format that’s not dissimilar to Idol and all the other clones.
Reuben chose to perform an original song, Sold My Soul, he’d written for his father Kevin who had recently died from a drug overdose at the age of 55.
The song had an immediate impact upon the girls who were up on their feet dancing.
Although the subject matter to Sold My Soul is sad the music is quite uplifting.
Reuben comments: “Everything I write is very deep and personal but they (the songs) are upbeat, empowering songs.”
Reuben credits his father as his musical inspiration.
His dad loved reggae and was constantly playing it in the house as Reuben was growing up in a little village in Ireland before the family moved to Manchester.
Sold My Soul is a good single and it will be interesting to see what else he produces over the coming months.
There’s a video of Reuben performing a stripped back piano version of Sold My Soul on YouTube which highlights the pathos more than the single version.
Reuben Hester is a talented young singer/songwriter and I suspect that his appearance on Little Mix’s TV show was more about building his profile than about joining a band created from the best performers on a TV talent show.
The decision has certainly brought him to the attention of the English music press which is a good start.
