Depending on who you ask, long hours of self-reflection were either the curse or unexpected blessing of lockdown. For Hudson Taylor, this period off the road proved to be the latter, forcing the brothers to slow down and re-evaluate their approach to their craft – ultimately leading to the creation of their aptly titled third studio album, Searching For The Answers.

Produced by Luke Potashnick, the duo worked on the project remotely, from Harry Hudson-Taylor’s home in Berlin, and his brother Alfie’s base in Somerset. While the finished result isn’t a total reinvention of the easy-going acoustic-pop they built their reputation on, the impact of the pandemic is undeniable – as they explore a more grounded, thoughtful direction.

Although handy clichés creep in occasionally – most notably on ‘Hold Out Hope’ – the album also finds Hudson Taylor putting a fresh spin on their influences, with ‘Let It Begin’ in particular feeling like a nod to the singer-songwriter scene that dominated their native Dublin in the ‘90s and ‘00s. This comforting sense of nostalgia bleeds throughout Searching For The Answers, as the pair look inwards, and embrace an intimate, back-to-basics approach.

Out now, via Rubyworks