Where the wind blows, local multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Wesley Hughes will go. From following his mothers’s direction towards the piano, to falling in-step with a classmate and fellow guitar player, to a shift in band membership that opened the door for solo artistry, Hughes’ tendency to go with the flow has seemingly worked out for him and his music. With a vast experience playing with past and current bands, Hughes is embarking on an organic and serendipitous solo project that will bring song releases with each solstice/equinox for the next year. This unsurprisingly natural choice of single-release schedule began in June with drops of “In One End” and “Sink Into Pleasure” and will continue through September, December and beyond.
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Hughes got into music back when he was high school. His algebra-teacher-by-day was Brer Rabbit of the Flobots by night. “Seeing that strong, impactful messaging and being a part of a community, [being an] educator and musician laid the groundwork for me,” Hughes said. That role model has since been an inspiration for everything Hughes has done and accomplished, teaching him the importance of “spreading a positive message and good work,” along with striving to be a role model himself.
Using a play on his legal name, Hughes’ solo career is taking place under the nom de plume and band name of West Hues. The music is all about experimentation, ranging from jazz, to EDM, to hip-hop and everything in between, self-defined as something like instrumental jazz-rock fusion. With this vision in mind, Hughes put together a group of players who are featured in these current projects — keyboardist Ronan Andrews, drummer Gabe Gravango, bassist Jose Gutierrez and guitarist Nate Perkins. All friends of his from college, Hughes has spent the last five or six years playing with each of these musicians in their own individual projects as well, adding an element of kinship and camaraderie that inevitably elevates Hughes’ sound.
That sound, in Hughes’ own words, can be described as “psych-rock mixed with jazz” and “fusion-based.” The first two singles were recorded with Gravango at a friend’s home studio, while the upcoming singles will likely be recorded in Hughes’ own home studio and are “more on the electronic-hybrid, psych, R&B, fusion spectrum.” As the sole songwriter, Hughes has the ability to steer his sound in whichever way feels right in the moment, leaving an ample amount of wiggle room for him to take full artistic freedom with his music.
Hughes’ intention with his music is to “communicate joy” and to ignite the “inner child and curiosity” in people while simultaneously “challenging them to consider their world and what they want their world and life to be.” The previously released singles, along with their impending counterparts, will get that chance to reach people when they are performed for a live audience at Lot 46 on September 26. Fans can catch Hughes in a vast array of settings — in addition to his solo gigs — as he continues playing with other local bands, such as with Sonic Souls at Cervantes’ Other Side (opening for Joey Porter’s Shady Business) on August 29, and with Marifiki at Lost Lake on September 6. This live aspect is hugely important for Hughes, who defines music as “the great communicator,” especially in a local music scene that he considers to be “one of the best in the country.”