Haux, the alias of the Berkshires’ Woodson Black, returns with the announcement of his forthcoming sophomore album Blue Angeles due out in the spring of 2024. Alongside the album’s announcement, Black shares the lead single “Carte Blanche,” which arrives with a cheeky, self-directed video that sees Black road-tripping through Northern California’s rugged coast line, winding roads, and forests with his girlfriend and his phone. Black shares about the journey, “I’ve struggled a lot with what I call feeling phonesick. It’s something that’s kept me from getting outside and actually seeing the world with my own two eyes. I wanted to capture that fuzzy feeling where the main character’s caught between his phone screen and his physical world without really existing in either one completely.”
Produced by Thomas Bartlett (Taylor Swift, Florence + The Machine), Maxwell Byrne (Mallrat), and Aug E. Rose, Blue Angeles was recorded in Los Angeles, New York City, and The Berkshires. The album follows Black as he attempts to outrun the past on highways across the United States until he eventually reaches the end of the road in Los Angeles, where he explores his own addiction and spirituality until ultimately finding healing in nature at a small town silent retreat center on the Appalachian Trail. Blue Angeles is the answer to Black’s question, “What happens when we stop running away?” He adds, “I needed to grow up to write this record and that isn’t something that just happens overnight. It’s taken me the better part of three years and I needed all of it to be where I am today.” It is the long-awaited follow up to Haux’s debut album Violence in a Quiet Mind, which was lauded by GRAMMY.com, The New York Times, and Pitchfork and features the stand out songs “Calico” and “Eight” featuring Rosie Carney.
When he returned home from Los Angeles, Black began a new chapter of his journey with his best friend at his grandmother’s East Mountain Retreat Center – a center practicing radical hospitality and interfaith spiritual guidance. Together, over the course of a calendar year, the two finished the remaining songs for the album, built a garden and began climbing trees. Woodson shares, “I was living in denial in LA. I couldn’t see the stars at night and the movie stars were living their lives in hiding. I needed to wake up and face the music. The mountain gave me a place to reconnect with my childhood and finally put down my phone. It allowed me to make peace with myself and to give thanks for the things I have in my life.”
Woodson Black has been releasing music as Haux since his debut EP All We’ve Known in 2016. His elusive nature, dreamy falsetto, and self-directed style have created a world where listeners can breathe fresh air.
Check out “Carte Blanche” above and stay tuned for more from Haux coming soon.
