Melancholy mood: Jordan Hunt finds beauty in the blues

The Monday Mix — The ‘sad-boy pop’ pioneer gets introspective for the latest Monday Mix, bringing together tracks from Sufjan Stevens, James Blake and Owen Pallett.

For our latest Monday Mix, we join forces with Jordan Hunt – the classically trained composer creating his very own brand of symphonic “sad-boy pop.”

The London multi-instrumentalist is gearing up to release his first ever solo EP Long Lost this week – a move that has been a long time coming. For years, he has been building up a resumé which packs some serious classical clout; from a Royal Academy of Music degree and a decade-long run Theo Adams Company’s musical director, to a six-year stint in art-pop orchestra The Irrepressibles. Hunt’s talents have even caught the eye of Bat For Lashes and Lana Del Rey, who both chose to collaborate with him for their live shows.

So what tracks have soundtracked this steady rise to success? “I don’t actually listen to music much, but when I do I want it to be heart-wrenching or exhilarating; to move me from my current mood,” Hunt tells Huck. “When I do listen, I definitely prefer the intimacy of headphones over blasting speakers. I’ve either shed a tear alone or been propelled to get up and live by each of these pieces.”

“I’ve been collecting these beauties for the past 16 years or so and coming back to them time and again. I’m particularly fond of the classical pieces in the middle of the mix which remind me of my days studying composition at music college. I guess that’s when I seriously began to fall in love with music’s power to reach somewhere deep and unspoken, and it still informs all of my musical decisions to this day. I hope you enjoy them.”

Nina Simone – “I Get Along Without You Very Well”
Owen Pallett – “The Great Elsewhere”
Sufjan Stevens – “The Owl and the Tanager”
Jordan Hunt – “Don’t Fly Too Far”
James Blake – “We Might Feel Unsound”
Olivier Messiaen – “O Sacrum Convivium”
Richard Strauss – “Im Abendrot”
Thomas Adès – “O Albion”
György Ligeti – “The Alphabet”
Olivia Chaney – “Holiday”
Joni Mitchell – “River”
The Irrepressibles – “In This Shirt”