Eric Hofbauer & EHX: Tongues/Hope Language (Creative Nation Music) Released April 2026
Tongues / Hope Language is a concept double album exploring the sacred power of storytelling — from the direct and literal to the mystical and unspoken. The two discs are two sides of the same question: if Tongues is the act of communication, Hope Language is its content and outcome.
Tongues examines how we speak to power, to each other, and to ourselves. Regina Spektor’s “Us” becomes a driving string trio of rhythmic hockets and a flowing lyric that shifts from soaring declaration to sardonic whisper — world-weary wisdom delivered with a wink. Radiohead’s “How to Disappear Completely” blends hints of
Argentinian chacarera, polyrhythms and eerie electronics to lean into the lyric’s central idea: memory and nostalgia as coping tools. Hendrix’s “Up from the Skies” is given a poly-tonal harmonic frame, delivered with cool restraint — the calm inside the storm of climate catastrophe. Björk’s “Army of Me” is stripped to percussive, modal
jazz that simmers before erupting with distorted force; the text “you’ll face an army of me” never far from the surface.
Hope Language turns inward and outward at once. The album opens with McCartney’s “Mother Nature’s Son” reimagined on tenor banjo — Hofbauer’s recorded debut on the instrument — traveling from blues Americana to the outer edges of post-bop harmony. Peter Gabriel’s “Flood” forms the darker counterpart: pastoral warmth against something menacing, building from whisper to full growl. Sting’s “Russians” becomes a cold war 2.0 revamp — warbly tape-filtered guitar and haunting cello melodies connecting the 1980s to now, the lyric’s plea still piercing. The album closes with Sly Stone’s “Everybody Is a Star” and Abbey Lincoln’s “Long As You’re Living” woven together into a soulful blues elegy — a pure, hard-won hope in humanity to conclude the double album’s arc.
Dylan Jack Quartet: Winter Panes (Creative Nation Music) Released Nov. 2024
On “Winter Panes,” the Dylan Jack Quartet gives winter classics a fresh, new jazz interpretation. The recordings, made in a cold church in Massachusetts, literally and figuratively reflect various cultural views on the winter season. The tone is set immediately with the fiery trumpet of Jerry Sabatini on the opening track “New Africa” by Grachan Moncur III, while Eric Hofbauer’s guitar, subtly enriched with electronics, enhances the soundscape. James Brown’s “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” is playful and swinging, with an infectious groove thanks to Jack and bassist Tony Leva. The less obvious choices are the most striking, however. Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” receives a polymetric treatment, completely refreshing the original waltz pattern. The Sephardic Hanukkah song “Ocho Kandelikas” unfolds from a stately opening to a rousing tango finale. The quartet demonstrates that a Christmas album does not have to be predictable. “Winter Panes” is an inventive journey through various musical traditions, unified by the ensemble’s coherent vision. A winter album that captivates all year round. - William Brown, Maxazine
“The virtuosity displayed by Eric Hofbauer is staggering at times, but his acumen as a composer is even more impressive.”
— Burning Ambulance
