Originally Published on February 3rd, 2026

~ About the Artist ~

“I released an album on January 16th.” That’s a sentence that still sounds funny to me every time I say it. In our community of musicians, it’s not a sentence that is out of the ordinary. I hear it said often, in fact. Yet, when I look at the journey it took for me to get here, it means something completely different. I’ve had releases before. I’ve released three EP’s and technically, I released an album in 2023, though admittedly there was not a lot of work put into it (it was honestly a glorified collection of demos). I’ve never completed the process I did for Evaporate, and now that it’s done, I look back at the journey I’ve been on to get here. A journey that started before I wrote my first song for this album; that started way back to when I first picked up a guitar and sang a song and thought, “I want to do this.”

When we zoom out, we discover that there are millions of individual artists trying to be heard. One artist is just as talented and just as capable as the next. We can zoom back in on any one of us and there is a story behind this pursuit. One for me, and one for you. This next story is one that fascinates me because it bares a striking similarity to my own.

Out of the UK, there is a new recording artist by the name of Jon Hopper who has emerged onto the scene. A singer, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist, Hopper is a dynamic musician who blends contemporary pop, synth pop, and rock with ambience, big sound, and perhaps a dash of nostalgia.

Hopper, 55, is a recently retired banker. Having found success in the field of finance and now, in search of a new inspiration to drive him, he looked back to a dream he had first had when he was 10 years old. This lifelong musician never lost touch with this passion; a passion that allowed him to fall in love with a variety of different genres like pop, rock, country, classical, and jazz music. Now, with a new focus and a drive to create, he has elected to release his own music.

“When I was working, all of my focus was on the current or the future: managing risks, issues, strategy and planning, coaching, relationships, and communication. I’d spent a career looking forwards, not backwards.

But when you write lyrics, the only raw material you have is in your past. Thinking about the past was a completely new muscle for me.” ~ Hopper

Hopper is a synth pop, soft rock musician that, to me, sounds a bit like a mix between Annie Lennox’s solo work from the late 1990’s and The Postal Service’s early work from the mid to late 2000’s.

~ About the Album ~

The Green Fuse is the debut album of UK independent artist, Jon Hopper. Releasing on January 24th, this 11-song LP runs at 49 minutes and features three previously released A/B singles: Oh What a Day! on November 19th, Never Just a Tree on December 7th, and Keep on Driving on December 19th. The Green Fuse was written, performed, and recorded by Jon Hopper.

After the first couple of listens, I can see that the album, as a whole, has an overall positive vibe. It’s very bright, calm but upbeat, and it is consistently positive throughout. In addition to the synth-style references I made before, I also occasionally get a glimpse of other influences like Tears for Fears and David Bowie. The Green Fuse reaches for a diverse catalog of inspiration, but is generally built on a foundation of pop music.

Opening with Oh What a Day! is a pretty prompt introduction to the mood with this album. Hopper has good instincts of when to pull sound into the production and when to take it out. There is also a layer of patterns as some synths offer chord progression, some are more solo-oriented, then there is arpeggiated progressions that come in and out throughout the work.

Vocally, Hopper has a classic pop sound to his voice. He isn’t strained, he is relaxed, poised and delivers the vocal parts with eloquence. He needs up the chorus of Oh What a Day! and choruses of other tracks with layering the vocals and adding vocoder effects to the backing vocals. The entire mix is padded with a gentle but present amount of reverb.

There is a consistency with the production quality throughout the album. It’s very good and helps keep the album tied together. There is also a diversity of tempo and energy though it all follows the positive theme I mentioned before. Like with No Tomorrow, beats come and go providing an energetic dynamic to the piece without overcomplicating it. Hopper has an ear for when a song needs a sound to fill a space as well as an intuition for not allowing that sound to overstay its welcome.

There are two songs that stick out to me, in particular. Not to say that the rest of the album isn’t good; it is, in fact very good. But, as with even the best albums, there are some moments that truly resonate with me. The first is the ballad, Battlefields. I really love the ambience that occupies the open space in the background of this song. His vocals have more of an opportunity to shine with a more subtle accompaniment. As I mentioned, his instinct of knowing what to play and when to play it is extraordinary and it really stands out here.

The other is actually the individual song he initially pitched. Digging for Buried Secrets has more of a driving, percussive presence. It introduces interesting different effects and broadens the influence of the album. It is the most contemporary song on the record. Hoppers vocals are truly on point with this one as well.

Final Thoughts

All good things come to those who wait. Since first aspiring to be a musician at 10 years of age, Jon Hopper is now a published recording artist with a wonderful debut. The Green Fuse is inspired; it should light a fuse in all of us. I say to anyone reading this to drown out the noise of negativity. Yes, I have to tell myself to as well. It’s not always easy. But Jon Hopper is a testament. For anyone who thinks there is an age limit. For anybody who thinks you have to professionally work as a musician. For anybody who thinks you have to have tons of money or management or a big, expensive studio. Whatever the doubters are slipping into your ears or before your eyes.

It’s just noise.

Jon Hopper chased a dream at 55 and he accomplished it. He’s got plenty of time, too. He can do 10 more albums and then find something else to do. I heard this quote from a television show last night. “Life is like a 2-minute drill. So live your whole life like a 2-minute drill.”

Go press play.