The mysterious Strasbourg-born, Paris–based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, publicly known as MHUD initially began his creative career as a painter before turning to music as a creative outlet relatively recently. And within a relatively short period of time, the Strasbourg-born, Paris-based artist quickly established a genre-defying approach to his music that thematically touches upon humankind’s spiritual, emotional and intellectual split from itself.

The French artist’s forthcoming sophomore album NONO was largely conceived in the morning and at home with co-writer Felipe Sierra (guitar, synths). The pair wrote with the album’s material with the common thread of giving all their musical influences a chance to shine. Thematically, the album touches on consciousness and the unconscious, the chaotic noise of information overload, the lack of nuance, the inability to find a quiet moment to think or to process anything, and how easy it is to lose the thin thread of time that seems to barely hold everything to together.

NONO‘s first single “Toucher le sol,” is reportedly the album’s most straightforward rocker. Sonically resembling acclaimed, Montréal-based JOVM mainstays Population II, OSees, and Milan‘s The Gluts, “Toucher le sol’ is a bruising punk-meets-psych rock tune rooted in sociopolitical concerns. As the French artist explains, the song asks two questions: What happens to the people left on the sidelines of our society, some of whom are nevertheless endowed with certain qualities? Conversely, do those who have big platforms and influence still connected to everyday life to give insightful thoughts on our society?

The accompanying live footage, filmed at Mastoïd Studio by Nicolas Giraldo sees MHUD with a backing band featuring Felipa Sierra, Pedro Barrios (percussion), Biscuit (saxophone), Thomas Chalindar (drums) and Paul Dussaux (bass, modular synth).