Josh Hodges is Sexton Blake. He came out of nowhere four years ago with the brilliant self-titled debut “Sexton Blake.” That album was a critical success, garnering Sexton Blake numerous comparisons to Elliott Smith and Pinback, among others. The Music Liberation Project exclaimed: “This is, by far, my favorite album this season.” Copper Press called it “a fantastic debut from this young, inspired multi-instrumentalist,” imploring readers to “track it down any way you can.” Similarly, the Oregon Music Guide heralded it as “a DIY classic.”
Plays The Hits! takes Sexton Blake’s singular sound into new territories. Josh Hodges has carefully chosen thirteen songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s and skillfully made them uniquely “Sexton Blake.” Josh spent hundreds of hours listening to hundreds of songs, trying to come up with the perfect collection - songs that Josh thought Sexton Blake could breathe new life into. Some, like “Bette Davis Eyes”, “Evil Woman”, “Hungry Heart”, “Young Turks” and “Daniel”, are classics. With others, like “I Need Love”, “Girl You Know It’s True”, and “Rush Rush”, Sexton Blake takes songs from different genres and sounds and transforms them into great works of indie pop. Every single song is great.
As In Music We Trust magazine’s Alex Steininger put it: “This may be the greatest covers album of all time!” But Sexton Blake doesn’t need it to be the greatest covers album of all time. Josh would be happy if it simply served to introduce fans of Sexton Blake, and indie pop, to some great songs they might not be familiar with. Similarly, this album will likely serve to introduce fans of these great songs, to a critically acclaimed indie artist from Portland, Oregon. One thing is for sure, Plays The Hits! will become a must-have for every fan of intelligent covers and great indie pop.
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