EP Review: Catch n’ Release by Fana Hues
On Catch n’ Release, Fana Hues turns leaving into instructions plain enough to follow.
It began as a bout of scarlet fever, then tonsillitis, then strep throat. Fana Hues was robbed of her voice for several years. And then, she got it back and sang with her family band, spent time in a musical theater company, mastered bass guitar, and set off this decade. Hues came out in 2020, flora + fana in 2022, and Moth in 2024, and all three asked her what she was feeling; the ones composed since put the question to whatever is currently standing in her way.
The man of “Recognize” declares he loves her, and she reciprocates by asking him to prove it. Nobody means it anymore, and half of her words turn up at the door as he walks out.
She believes she has one somewhere unreachable and has yet to recognize one with her own two eyes; when it makes an appearance, it looks like trouble, which is precisely why she hesitates—this isn’t high school anymore. He charms her, hypes her up for a bit, then falls completely out of touch, prompting the question of whom she has to blame for being exhausted. A portion of her problem is her eyes: “Been looking, I don’t/Think I’d recognize/If it was close enough to hit me.” Her demand resounds on “From Him,” where apology fails on the umpteenth attempt and the only communication that holds value is ‘show, don’t’; he tried everything he had, gambled his last dime on a wishing well that drowned the only thing worth wishing for, and rotates partners even more than he rotates wardrobe.
She gets out with, “Can’t blame me if I go and treat myself,” repeating the chorus on herself—once about what he’d provide if permitted, once regarding who might oblige after he has exhausted all other opportunities.
Wanting is on her agenda for “Drip,” a fast track of a record that cannot leave her alone until the end: he offers boundless goods, swore they’d prove genuine at least on paper, but she finds she cannot articulate what’s desired and nonetheless claims it. She suggests swimming, skinny-dipping, and a romantic kitchen screening; the pun works here on his chips, and his clip falls well short. Her counterfeit claim is more accurate than that, which makes up her jokes.
Hues discussed with NPR in 2022 that the music was essentially an excerpt from her journal “which it still is to this day.” It’s been addressed. The object of her attention has been clearly identified; the conditions are laid out, and now there is the matter of the option to accept or decline.
For the once she utters, before turning and acting accordingly.
There’s the familiar ring of a twice-spoken word at the basis of the four good-byes of “Sweet n’ Sour.” With a decidedly different context with each pass—an acrimonious ending, an invitation back into tenderness, a departure from the entanglement, the revelation of your deception. It is an illustration of how the two are holding tight to separate threads in their dance of give-and-take; though their voices harmonize the same tired tunes, they shift together with the speed of the wind. “Stowaway” wants the anonymity of the road where no soul knows their name, since each face reminds her of herself; as the saying goes, ‘if one’s seen one, they’ve seen all.’ Then, conversely, she finds herself stating that there’s nothing to see, when both facts remain perfectly true. She is no fleeing lover, no sneaky fugitive; wherever she takes to the air, she’ll find her way.
Josh Grant co-produced much of Moth just two years ago. Contributing solely to the music of “Recognize.” While a two-man team featuring the brothers of Mulherin was responsible for two songs, and Jeremy Schmetterer, Pera Krstajic, Kendrick, and Sherwyn Nicholls took a hand in writing the remaining pair. The summer is a fading photograph with nothing to hold onto back at home, and the luggage in tow and the key flung back her way in the last words of “Red Wine Holiday”: “Go ahead and fill my glass.” She declares her unfamiliarity, claims the strength for any accomplishment, and acknowledges the potential for error with a spirit of defiance that carries through most of the song—a ballad anchored by four words. The verses move the story along; the hook just continues pouring.
Favorite Track(s): “Recognize,” “From Him,” “Stowaway”