South African psychedelic experimental musician Hugh Davison releases new single and video

Hugh Davison has been part of the lesser-known Johannesburg alternative music scene for the last 20-odd years, after having spent his formative years in various far flung, dusty mining towns between Botswana and South Africa. He rose to prominence playing in various Jozi punk and electro bands like SubMachine, The Slashdogs and The Means. He has since made a living writing, recording, producing, and teaching music. Hugh has worked with a diverse set of artists like Pops Mohammed, Sliquor, Laurie Levine, Thobile Mcincinini, Portia Sibiya, Gile Motshwane, Jacques Moolman, Shameless Band, TCIYF, Rainbow Abomination, Loandi Boersma and Kanii Axtro.

He is stylistically omnivorous, balancing a love for modern bass music, noise and experimental with classic song-writing styles, and other more traditional forms. He has a deep love for Southern Africa and the amazing beauty within it, as well as a deep sadness for the ongoing cycles of pain and disharmony wracking the country’s socio-political landscape. His song-writing explores themes of psychedelia, metaphysics, morality, patterns, outer (and inner) space, using a poetic, dream-like lyrical style and a post-punk/folk delivery.

Today sees the release of his new single and video Breathe, a song about combustion - how as the moment burns towards the future, the past becomes ash. It references holy moments in lost places and disjointed realities, but also hope and redemption.

“It is about the opposing yet balancing forces that keep the world alive - the air in the lungs, the inward grasp and gasp for life and the exhale, the outward, inevitable capitulation to death.” Explains Hugh. “Musically, I obliquely channelled my inner David Byrne and the Talking Heads, but it is also somewhat of an homage to Ali Farke Tourè and West African guitar music, which I’m a huge fan of.”

The video is in a simple, ‘performance’ style, shot in an abandoned warehouse in downtown Johannesburg. “We set the band up in an inward-facing circle to draw attention to the intimate act of music creation that permeated the production process of song, underscoring the important roles that Portia Sibiya and Nozi Mnguni played in shaping the overall sound. The sweltering heat of the day, and the boomy acoustics of the empty warehouse in deserted downtown Jozi all added to the surreal atmosphere of the shoot. The visuals were graded in high contrast black and white - partly to underscore the perennial, perpetual feel and themes within the music, and perhaps also an unconscious nod to the precarious socio-political landscapes within South Africa, but mainly because black and white so often just looks better…” He laughs.

Breathe is available now on all digital platforms including

Spotify | Apple Music | Deezer | Bandcamp

Follow Hugh Davison via the links below:

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Psychedelic Punk Experimentalist Hugh Davison releases the video for new single Southern Cross

Hugh Davison has spent most of his life making music in some form or another. While he currently makes a living writing music for adverts, his true passion lies in self-expression and experimentation. He came up in the Johannesburg punk scene playing in scrappy bands like The Evil Eddies, The Slashdogs and Submachine, but is also partial to classic soul, experimental jazz, noise rock and a healthy dose of psychedelia. He has wide ranging interests like politics, philosophy, magical thinking and the acts of creation and destruction. Suffice to say the current meaning crisis we find ourselves in is fascinating to him. 

“Southern Cross is like a kind of purge - so much negativity! But I feel like there is a lot of negative shit going around and a lot of it is connected.” Comments Hugh when asked about the inspiration behind the track. “It’s about altered states, privileged states, ‘United States’, addiction, capitalism, colonialism, extractive mentality - all the stuff I (we?) see on a daily basis in South Africa and now, thanks to the internet, the World - I feel like we as humans need to start asking ourselves some very serious questions… Perhaps moments of chaos may even be necessary in order to bring about massive system change?”

Watch the video for Southern Cross 

The name references the constellation that guides night-time travellers/sailors in the Southern Hemisphere, but also resembles a fallen crucifix, or alternatively, a diamond - many of us grew up on mines around Southern Africa, but diamonds and gold (Johannesburg is built on gold) also refer to the idea of symbolic, hypothetical wealth which, in a way, equates to a kind of magical thinking on the part of humanity. There is also a lot of referencing of individual and collective addiction throughout the song, “as an addictive personality myself I feel both deep frustration with, as well as deep empathy for the addictive state.”

Hugh would like to shout out the awesomeness of the muzo’s who contributed to the production: Portia Sibiya’s bass swaggers like a bull, while Nozi Mnunguni lays down thick (yet elegant) 12/8 grooves. “I knew there could be no way of doing this project without these two - mavericks of the Afro/Jazz/Prog scene - they brought an irreplaceable Magic (with a capital M - Portia has also been called to ’Twasa’ or Sangoma duties in another life). They also brought a deep sense of funk, stemming from a powerful love for music on many interconnected levels.”

Southern Cross is available now on all digital platforms including

Spotify Apple Music  Bandcamp