Kristian Hoffman's mastery of classic songcraft is front and center on his remarkable new album of duets called simply &. Culling his not-so-ragged band of partners from the multitudes of colleagues, influences and friends he's amassed over the past 25 years as a musical adventurer, he's assembled a CD of extraordinary breadth in style and delivery.
As a tunesmith, Hoffman is perhaps best known for the song "Total Eclipse", the cult hit he wrote for early 80s legend Klaus Nomi (and a Top Ten single in Germany in 2000 for Rosenstolz with vocals by Soft Cell's Marc Almond) and the smart aleck pop craft he displayed with his groups the Mumps (1974-1980) and the Swinging Madisons (1980-1985) not to mention the much-praised folk parodists Bleaker Street Incident. His two solo records, I Don't Love My Guru Anymore (1994) and Earthquake Weather (1997) cemented his appeal, while taking a more earnest singer/songwriter approach. In the meantime, Kristian has labored as a sideman and collaborator with artists as diverse as El Vez, Congo Norvell and the Kinks' own Dave Davies and took on the title of Musical Director for Rufus Wainwright and Ann Magnuson. The countless connections made and mutual appreciation societies formed have led to the full flowering of &. Lining up fifteen of his most talented friends, he's decided to share the load and focus on THE SONG.
& is a summation of Kristian Hoffman's gifts as a songwriter from the epic to the intimate--all suffused with emotion and whimsy and sex and style, not to mention an unerring knack for the perfect pop melody. With longtime producer Earle Mankey (the Runaways, Beach Boys, Concrete Blonde, Possum Dixon) on hand once again to provide his patented hook-happy gloss, and with arrangements that range from dark and robotic, to delicate and soul-searching, to bombastic and gushy, & may just be Hoffman's finest work yet.
