`Shut up and Listen` Album Review

Sickness often slows the mind, body and soul down, but musician Cameron Hons found the drive to create and produce more songs to build yet another album. He is an experienced musician who can  control his ego, and still enjoy performing for the sake of music, and not for money. The famous Cameron Hons is psychologically grounded and he doesn`t let his talent forget about the people who are important to him. A temporary illness did not get in the way of his gifts or his spiritual view on humanity.

“I had a horrible spate of bronchitis for about two weeks and it started to get better, then I got bad again. I suddenly had a bunch of ideas for a new album and new songs started to come in. During the recording I was very sick, and you can tell in some of the songs, but I still think that the performances are great,” said a very jubilant Hons.

The track with the same name as the album `Shut up and listen` starts with a powerful rhythm guitar score that makes it the biggest hit since `My Sharona.`The big finale is enough to put any opera singer to shame, and demonstrated lung capacity bigger than a goon bag! Hons refused to let bronchitis put a dampener on his creativity and opened his album with more than just a snapshot of musical intelligence.

This musical intelligence continues throughout the album with ‘Nothing on the internet matters.` It focuses on the issues of keyboard warriors and how they can make us feel. In an era where social media is exploding and imploding at the same time, Hons touches on the vicious cycle of free speech for some, and how responses in self-defence can be targeted by a brigade of self-opinionated bigots. The victims can receive bans or consequences for something they say, yet the perpetrators get off scott-free. Hons is a true prophet of the day, and says it like it is, and with good reason too.

Hons has confessed to getting many ideas when he is out-and-about, and songs can be attributed to his observations on nature walks, or visions he might see on television.

“I often come up with a lot of ideas for songs when I'm going for walks, observing things that I see, or doing work in our reserve. Sometimes things on TV annoys me and think I should make a song about it. If a person does something weird or funny, I think to myself, I should make a song about that," said an excited Hons.

`Good fences make good neighbours` has an interesting concept overflowing into the song. Whilst the lyrics grasp hold of the restorative justice needed to exist in a neighbourhood, the algebraic flow of the music will get you thinking. Country & Western singers could sing this song and reinvent the boundary lines of Australian music culture. 

This song resonates with a pattern associated with the type of music you might hear when Play School would look through the arched window. It creates a 4/4 signature that sounds like a character is about to break into song to teach the toddlers a lesson about turn-taking on Sesame Street. If you don`t hear it the first time, send it through again and you will notice how it plays into your conscience to do the right thing. At the risk of sounding like a radio jingle, artists should play “better music like this, and more of it!” It`s the right thing to do.

‘Negative for COVID but positive for excellent` was an hilarious way of showing that some people don`t give a metaphoric RATs. Rapid Antigen Testing has gone full circle with no tests available, to too many around! Hons` positive approach to not having coronavirus, and being disadvantaged by the sickness played right into the hands of those too sick to work. Hons picked up a pen, or perhaps a Macbook with a faulty `l` key, created yet another album, just for his strong fan-base.

“I like to write song lyrics with pure concentration, so no TV or distracting things on in the background while I'm writing them. I usually write lyrics on my phone or computer to save the use of paper,” he said.

In the meantime, ‘Nothing in the news today` is a common feeling sick people get. When viewers or listeners are stuck at home and forced to monitor news services in Australia, they realise how repetitive the news cycle can be. The lyrics contain a poetic refrain of “I don`t care” and it is symbolic of how an audience may feel. The updates and bulletins are devised for people to see three, before it goes into repeats. Public relations people take a break and give media releases a rest at the weekend, forcing the news agenda to slow down and pick up information from overseas, stock footage and hope for some breaking news along the way. Something has to break the repetition on a Monday morning, and the media are yet to do this.