If you live in North America, you are excused if you’ve never heard of Hundred Reasons or their 2023 release, Glorious Sunset. Hundred Reasons only played one show in the US, a set during the 2000s at SXSW. Their music never charted outside of the UK and Scotland. Record company difficulties helped to prevent the band from breaking big across the pond.
It’s not like I’m a super-cool music dude with my finger on the pulse of whatever is making beats. Hundred Reasons only entered my purview by accident after I drunkenly clicked the following YouTube link from Glorious Sunset posted by one of my British Facebook friends. [Thank you, James Peter Cox.]
“So So Soon” is damned near flawless. Guitarist Larry Hibbitt’s whimsical main riff, combined with Andy Bews’ rollicking drums and Andy Gilmour’s fluid bassline belie the viciousness of Colin Doran’s wicked lyrics. According to a February 2023 interview with Kerrang!, Doran’s son has cerebral palsy and had been attending a school that glossed over the difficulties his child was experiencing.
“They always gave the impression that things were fine but effectively were just making sure they were okay by covering up issues,” Doran explained. “My son is the light of my life and beyond incredible every single day and I wanted to draw light on how people with disabilities are still treated terribly in society by people who should just be better educated, more understanding, thoughtful and kind.”
Suffice to say, if you’re looking for nonsensical lyrical content, it ain’t here. The title track, “Glorious Sunset,” deals with Doran’s loss of his mother to cancer. “Wave Form” explores the dissolution of a relationship, the emotional impact of one person simply fading away from the other. “For nearly 30 years of nothing/Tell me you’re sorry/Tell me you’re sorry out loud,” Doran howls. The sad anger in the song is tangible, and it’s one hell of an ending track.
Glorious Sunset doesn’t sound like the kind of album to include a piano tune. Wrong. “Replicate,” with its simple, catchy keyboard work and string arrangement, doesn’t feel out of place. Coming in at spot number four, “Replicate” is the quiet before the storm of the remainder of the album. Gorgeous and moving, “Replicate” is a standout.
If anything, Glorious Sunset highlights the magic and science of track placement. I’m not a singles guy. I listen to albums from start to finish, no skips, mentally tuning out the songs I don’t like until one I enjoy comes on. That’s not a worry with Glorious Sunset. Every track demands the listener be present in its moment. It is one of the few albums in the last decade worth completely memorizing.
As a human living in the States, Hundred Reasons feels like a secret, that band you want to keep for yourself so you can feel smug and superior. Don’t do that. Not with Hundred Reasons. This band is simply too damned good to clutch to your vest. Good grief, what else has the UK been musically withholding from the rest of the world?
All ten tracks on Glorious Sunset simmer with love and fury. It’s the soundtrack to your summer, the background music for your winter of discontent. Glorious Sunset is a passionate and soaring work that has already solidified its place on my annual Top Five Favorite Albums list.
