The Police, Bon Jovi, The Stranglers – a key thing that these three bands have in common is that they have or previously had one band member older than the majority, although this rarely exceeded a decade. Considering the success of these bands and the examples of many more who are out there, no one could argue that the significant age difference hampered their ability to connect with audiences, create truly compelling music and leave their mark on the history of music. One band who is taking this trope to a whole new level in the most rock’n’roll way possible is The Horn.
The pillar of this five-piece outfit is Nick True, a songwriter and former bassist of Friends Of Gavin (an 80s rock band who toured with REM and left behind the series of unfinished work) who recruited the vocalist and guitarist Jonny Taylor, alongside Danny Monk (multi-instrumental), Ed Cox (keyboards) and Alex Moorse (drums), to finally release those untold stories from decades earlier.
First up, we have ‘Passion’ mixed by Rich Turvey (Blossoms, Courteeners, The Coral), a kinetic indie-rock triumph that reflects the confident and cool nature of this time-travelling band. Taylor’s placid vocal is an oxymoronic contrast to the central lyric, “there’s a burning passion in me”, as well as the intricate-yet-gruff guitar melodies, retro-influenced synth undertones and the buoyant and groovy bass. The whole thing ebbs and flows, with highs instilled in the bright-eyed chorus and lows when the percussion drops away and the melodies are caught adrift in the unknown. Overall, the track sits somewhere between Television and Blossoms, a further testament to The Horn’s goal of bringing two indomitable eras of music together.
As for how ‘Passion’ got here, that’s a journey in itself. Nick True wrote this when he was 26-years-old and it still retains all of that early earnestness that inevitably wrestles up against impatience and recklessness of youth. With the power of hindsight within his grasp, True shares his thoughts on the track while has finally come to fruition:
“I suppose looking back, it was about the roller coaster of life in my 20’s. The song always stayed with me and a few years ago I came back to it and wrote the second verse which got me excited about it again. When I played it to Jonny, he liked it straight away and we started work on a new demo. We took it into the studio and came up with some new musical ideas like a new solo by Danny which gave a lot of musicality to play against the constant rhythms. Now it’s finished, it feels special to me because it straddles decades of my life and as the chorus goes, ‘what a feeling’ hearing it finally fulfilled!”