Bully Hay – Anywhere But Here

Bully Hay – Anywhere But Here – Album Review

Believe it or not, I’m human.  I make mistakes like everyone else.  I’m not infallible.  All I can do is do the best I can, but I’m just as guilty as anyone else of falling short of the mark at times.  Like, for instance – you know how they say ‘we eat with our eyes?’  That’s applicable to more than food…it’s really more of a statement on how we perceive and how we judge long before we know what something is actually all about.  So yeah…when I saw the name Bully Hay…I had some questions to say the least.  Real talk – that name sounds like code for cowboy if you ask me…so truthfully, I was braced for some Country tunes.  As I continued to scan all the information I had about the guy before I pushed play on Bully’s new record, I saw another…hmm…let’s call it an ‘item of concern’ – a title that read “Running Up That Hill” – and c’mon, that can ONLY be one song, right?  It’s not going to be an original…it’ll be another cover of one of the most covered songs on the planet…one that I’ve pretty much never felt goes all too well for those that dare to attempt it, with the rare exception of say like, maybe Placebo.  Anyhow.  Where eating with our eyes becomes problematic whether it’s food, life, or music etc., is that if we’re not careful, we can trick ourselves out of enjoying something that’s uniquely remarkable before we even got a real taste for what it can offer us.  I’m so damn glad I pushed play on Anywhere But Here…this album is genuinely award-worthy.

I should have known better to second guess the man…he’s from Australia, where half the music I love most comes from.

Does that mean he nailed Kate Bush’s legendary hit “Running Up That Hill?”  It was the very first song I listened to out of sheer curiosity after spotting it in the lineup…but yeah…hang tight…we’ll get to that…

…for now, it’s best to start at the beginning, ain’t it?

I never simply want anybody to just take my word for it when things are THIS good…so by all means, please doubt every word I read, until you’re enticed to do the right thing & click on Anywhere But Here.  If you can even get through “Lovers Get High” without feeling like I might very well be onto something when I tell you that Hay is the kind of special we all hope to hear coming through our speakers, I’d be genuinely amazed.  There’s nothing about this opening track that isn’t impressive to me, straight up.  I loved the fact that for a moment the music actually sounded a lot like it came right outta the same era as Disintegration from The Cure at the start, and how Bully reminded me even more of Tom Smith from Editors as he began to sing.  Then, as Hay makes his shift into the chorus with such an enormous level of emotion and expression…good lord…”casting long shadows, throwing stones at your window” is such an incredibly impactful line…it occurs right before he proves he’s not just one of those monochromatic singers like Smith that I love so much, and that he’s got a whole lot more energy & melody in the tank.  “Lovers Get High” immediately confirms that you’re listening to something that’s so damn rare – you’re listening to authenticity…you’re listening to the sound of conviction…you’re listening to someone that is feeling every damn moment of what they’re singing about, with the power to make YOU feel it all too.  The writing is superb without question, but the execution is outright staggering.  Bully Hay has the intangible X-factor, and it’s on display instantly as you listen to “Lovers Get High” – you couldn’t miss it.

Bonus points for daring to make “Lovers Get High” the single too…it’s undoubtedly impressive as a song for sure, but it’s powerful depth makes it a fairly daring choice to put out there as a gateway into Anywhere But Here, especially when the upbeat vibes of “If You Can’t Forgive Me, Forgive Yourself” would make for an easier sell & more obvious choice.  I think that was a good move though…anyone that ends up as attached to a song like “Lovers Get High” is pretty much guaranteed to be a fan of the rest of the set to follow, and I don’t know that I’m as sure it would have worked the other way around if “If You Can’t Forgive Me, Forgive Yourself” was the first impression we get.  That’s not me saying it’s a bad song in any way, shape or form – it’s a freakin’ great song.  I’m simply saying that if you can survive the emotional plunge that “Lovers Get High” demands of you, you’ll be up for anything else afterwards.  “If You Can’t Forgive Me, Forgive Yourself” is served well by the opener in that regard, because your ears have already been cued into understanding that, no matter how upbeat something might appear in its energy, there’s going to be a whole lot more to it, which is exactly the case with this second tune.  Bully has clearly made some mistakes of his own in life, and he’s owning those moments through these songs he’s singing, like audible atonement.  Even with the heaviness of its context subject-wise being a part of a record that is essentially built on the catharsis of Bully starting over from square one post-divorce, the radiant vibes of “If You Can’t Forgive Me, Forgive Yourself” are going to get turned right up to the rafters – how could they not be?  This track’s incredibly addictive whether it’s the concept or the catchiness it comes with…plus, c’mon y’all…that guitar solo is a serious barn-burner, leading to a stellar breakdown that sets up another rip through the hooks & chorus finale.  Flawless execution folks…that’s what you’ll hear.  Bully is primed and ready for the moment, which in itself is an achievement.  Think of it this way – he’s writing from the perspective of a guy that’s gone through something he wasn’t ready for and had to figure out how to deal with…yet when the time came to push record, he’s a stunning example of what it sounds like when preparation meets opportunity.  That’s how to go about turning tragedy into triumph!  He’s got a Kings Of Leon-meets-early-R.E.M. vibe here, still laced with uncanny comparisons to Smith.

And here we are…we’ve arrived, where the rubber meets the road, as they say – “Running Up That Hill.”  I have stated many times that the emotional complexity this song reveals is something that I could write essays on, so I’ll do my best to be concise.  I will tell you upfront that I do in fact, enjoy this version Bully has created.  That in itself is beating the odds, I promise you.  What I personally like so much about the original, and what I thought Placebo got so correct in the way they chose to cover it, is that they capture this like…near exhaustion…this like…breaking point that practically threatens to crush them completely, right before they find this inspirational spark to fucking run up that damn hill, choosing to never give in.  With respect to that, I might even argue that Placebo found a way to get even more of that into their version than Kate did…but regardless, I think it’s right there in the DNA of what she’s written & implied in the original as much as what the sound of the times would allow for.  It’s a seriously DESOLATE song – or rather, it COULD have been – but it’s the way the people that really make the right connection with “Running Up That Hill” perform it that makes it a true testament to hope and the unbreakable resilience of the human spirit.  I am very pleased to tell you that Hay’s cover is more than commendable with respect to all that.  Taking it on acoustically, “Running Up That Hill” has another chapter in its gripping legacy, and the sincerity that Bully brings to it sounds every bit as real as it does in the original songs he’s got surrounding it on Anywhere But Here.  It’s a seamless fit on a thematic level – “If I only could make a deal with God, I would get him to swap our places” is the perfect mantra for Anywhere But Here, heartbreaking as it is when you realize & understand WHY that would be the case.  It’s a smart choice of cover for sure, but credit where credit is due, Bully’s done an excellent job in staying true to the source material & he tapped into what’s important in the emotional essence found at the core of Kate’s classic.

What the inclusion of “Running Up That Hill” adds to this album however, could never have been intentional…so lemme explain.  When you put what is quite arguably one of the greatest songs to have ever been written onto an album, not only do you have to seriously bring your A-game to the version you’d create, but you’re also reminding every single listener out there what an incredible songwriter Kate Bush was at the very same time.  Now…in the majority of cases out there, it’d be good game from that point forward…you’re not all that likely to experience a song that would be better written or better to listen to after that – make sense?  Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present you with “Trinkets And Coal” as the counterpoint…the audible proof that it CAN be done…and truly, the real facts at the core of this case is that Bully has continued to be mesmerizing throughout his entire lineup of original songs.  It’s to the point that, were it not for the insightful inclusion of “Running Up That Hill” on a thematic level in terms of what life has been like for Hay to live it as of late, you’d simply tell the guy he doesn’t NEED to include a cover of ANYTHING…not when his own tunes are as amazing as they have been already, and are immediately once again when you hear “Trinkets And Coal.”  This dude’s natural instincts for how to write and perform are the kinds of talents you simply cannot teach & cannot replicate.  You either have it or you don’t, and clearly Hay does.  Every time I spun my way through Anywhere But Here, I felt like I was continually impressed by how little “Running Up That Hill” would stand out in comparison to his own original songs.  Do you get what I’m saying dear readers, dear friends?  Do you know how HARD it would be to go up against Kate freakin’ Bush & come out the winner in a songwriting competition?  I’m tellin’ ya…it’s possible here.  Put this album on and let it work its magic on you.  “Running Up That Hill” SHOULD be the highlight in any set of songs out there…but I promise you, the very moment you hear “Trinkets And Coal” for yourself, you’ll be knocked out by the spellbinding sound of Hay’s original work.  There is so much impressive material all throughout this record, but “Trinkets And Coal” has this mix of enchanting & organic sweetness to it, coupled with the wisdom of perspective & raw emotional honesty – I mean…it’s not just another great song on this album, it’s one of the best cuts you’ll hear this year.

Whenever I listened to “Another Lost Soldier,” I kept thinking about how I didn’t see Editors on the list of bands/artists that Bully Hay was being compared to in the official press release and such…then I’d chuckle to myself thinking that he was about to find his new favorite band if he somehow hasn’t been listening to them by now.  There are so many comparisons to be made in the music that both make, and that’s all positive checkmarks in the WIN column as far as my own personal taste is concerned.  In any event, “Another Lost Soldier” proves to be further confirmation of Hay’s excellence.  Think of it this way – coming after what I just described as one of the best cuts of 2026 in “Trinkets And Coal” SHOULD effectively make the spot coming directly after it the toughest one to fill in the lineup, and yet somehow, Bully exceeds every wildest expectation you could have had with how solid “Another Lost Soldier” is.  I think he made the right call in switching up the energy here…it wouldn’t have done him any good or served the record to try to stick the mellow energy he explored in the exquisite melody of “Trinkets And Coal” two times in a row.  Bully understood the mission, and livens things up with “Another Lost Soldier” to the point where you could make a strong argument on behalf of this cut being another potential single.  The verses are already decent enough as they are, but listening to this whole song come alive with how Hay tackles the chorus is nothing short of awesome.  “After all this time fighting in the trenches…I gave it everything and no one noticed” – like…I don’t have the words to describe the power of HIS words, you feel me?  Hay knows how to use his emotions to his advantage, and his skills as a writer are literally only rivaled by his execution as a performer in the way that he sings his words.  The guy just gets it in the ways that every other artist and band out there would kill to understand, and to hear the consistency he brings to this whole lineup of songs will drop your freakin’ jaw in amazement.

I dunno…maybe it’s a case of if you know, you know…I don’t know that I would expect everyone out there to hear Bully Hay’s music in the same way that I do, but I’d be hella confused if they couldn’t.  I hear an artist like this and I feel like it’s THE artist we’re all hoping to find coming through our speakers when we listen to something new.  I guess what I’m hearing is the complete & total absence of anything I’d dare to change, you know what I mean?  When I listen to something like “Wash Off This World,” all I feel like I can think about is how THIS is what everyone is missing in the rush to jump on the AI train.  I’m sure that many people out there that don’t have a toenail’s worth of the talent that Bully has will be able to make songs that are plenty listenable with the use of technology…and I’m not even knocking that – have at’er.  What you can’t possibly recreate by any other means is the true level of humanity you experience in listening to a record like Anywhere But Here…no technology is going to get you to a place like this.  Bully sings with a level of emotion no machine would ever be able to compete with, and the extraordinary connection he sings his songs with – that CONVICTION I was mentioning earlier on, where you can FEEL the weight & thought he puts into every single syllable…that’s what we’re tuning in for.  Like, there’s part of me that would dare to try to tell you that “Wash Off The World” might end up taking the ninth or tenth spot in the list of songs in terms of what might make an impression on you…but if you fully understood how a cut like this would take the first or second spot on ANYONE ELSE’S album, it’d blow your mind.  It’s another objectively great song, and the only reason it might possibly pale at all could only ever be caused by comparison to HIS OWN MATERIAL throughout the rest of the set!  You see what I’m saying folks?  Bully gives you nothing but reasons to listen from start to finish on Anywhere But Here, and “Wash Off The World” is certainly included in that assessment.  In fact, for many out there, you’ll probably have this track ranked even higher than I’d imagine given that it has a comparable sound to what you find in Bon Iver, and like…well…I mean if any of us could sound like that, I’m sure we would.

Here’s a deeper-cut comparison for you though – I’d tell you that a track like “We Can Drive” has a ton of similarities to something like the tracks you’d hear on albums by The Verve Pipe.  Not the tracks that made the radio, but the ones that made the albums great to listen to from beginning to end.  The kinds of songs where you’d get to track seven or eight, just like you do here on Anywhere But Here, and have to acknowledge how strong the entire lineup is if you’re hearing something THIS good, this deep into the set.  There’s so much about this song I love if I’m being honest with ya…it’s got that like…dust-on-the-bottle sound to it that you’d find on the debut album from Chris Cornell…poetic…mystifying…it’s artistic, substantial, versatile, melancholy, and impossible to take your ears off of.  “We Can Drive” would be up there with my picks for unsung hero on this particular album.  Do I expect it to stand out to other listeners out there?  I mean…not at first?  That’s kinda the thing, ain’t it?  There’s so much outstanding material on this album, that some seriously amazing songs are simply going to be overlooked for the impact they’ll go on to make as you take your initial spins, but it’ll eventually be songs like “We Can Drive” that keep you coming back to listen.  If you want an audible definition of what HAUNTING sounds like, then seek this song out and have yourself a good spin through it…”We Can Drive” is an exceptional tune that’s got the kind of rare depth to it most of us would never dare to dive to.  Huge thumbs up here from me…but again, let’s be real here – Bully’s album is spoiled for choice when it comes to its contents.

HEY!  Look man…if you wanna create a six-minute long tune, then just do it…I don’t know about this whole like, nearly two-minutes of atmospheric introduction cheating the system…c’mon now Bully.  I’m kidding, I’m kidding.  I gotta find SOMETHING to pick on him for a little, right?  Do I think it’s an essential ingredient to the rest of what follows on “I Can Be Your Lover?”  Well – no…we’d be having a different discussion about that I’m sure…but that doesn’t mean I don’t like what I hear in this extremely gradual introduction, even if I don’t feel like it serves a whole ton of purpose in relation to the rest of the song.  I’m always willing to acknowledge there could be context I’m unaware of or a tie-in I don’t understand as a listener that’s important to the person that created it, which could be the case here.  Regardless, what follows that extended intro of “I Can Be Your Lover” might be THE hook of all hooks to be found on Anywhere But Here.  Like, I wanted to run over to my wife, give her a hug & tell her that I do in fact, love her THIS much, and play her this song to support what I’m saying, you feel me?  That’s not to say that everything Hay is singing about is happy and sweet here – that’s not really the case at all if you’re listening closely to his words – but at the same time, the magic of the chorus and the way Bully sings “I can be your lover over and over again” is like the eternal sound of love in practice.  When you combine that with him singing “I hope you can understand I can’t be your friend” and how immaculately potent that feeling of love & admiration is…that feeling like friendship simply ain’t ever gonna be enough to cover it all…man…I’d sit here and shake my head as I listened to “I Can Be Your Lover” over and over again as I listened, because to hear someone nail a moment like this so precisely practically brings tears to my eyes.  Whatever your standard of excellence is for songwriting, whether it’s storytellers like Don MacLean or Cat Stevens that give you remarkable imagery and detail, or more abstract artists like Eddie Vedder that convey their tales more through their emotions…Bully proves they’re his peers with this cut.

Without having made a mistake or misstep to this point on the album, “Talk Me Off The Edge,” continues this exercise in artistic consistency.  Another track that reminds me of The Verve Pipe and/or tracks you’d find written by the bands surrounding the fringes of the grunge scene like Screaming Trees & anything else to do with Mark Lanegan, “Talk Me Off The Edge” is another stellar example of the kind of depth that Anywhere But Here contains.  This track ain’t competing for being a single against the other cuts on this album, and it’s not in the running to be one in the long run either – it’s just a quality tune, take it or leave it.  MAYBE a few of you out there will be brave enough to sing along with it on your way to work after you get to know it a little bit…but hey, that’s not the defining characteristics of what makes a song great to listen to, right?  Musically, “Talk Me Off The Edge” has got some of that deep rhythmic groove that you’d love to find on Tragically Hip album’s, and Bully’s got that cleverly spread out with a more spacious design for his verses to allow his lyricism & voice to stand out as they should.  It’s even got these hints of like…what is that – Led Zeppelin?  Acoustic-based Zep, don’t get me wrong – but yeah…you’ll hear little twists along the way that will remind you of some of the classics, and at the same time, Hay is able to raise the stakes when called upon to make this track have an epic and majestic vibe as well.  Not a whole lot not to like about all this is you ask me.  The most I’ll concede to ya is that “Talk Me Off The Edge” is another kind of deep cut on this record, but by this point, you should welcome the fact that Bully has been able to add that depth into this experience and make it so damn listenable.

What else can be said here?  “Here It Comes Again” was the low-key, smart & subtle finale that was a perfect fit to finish things off.  Like…you need an emotional break…a second to catch up to all the feelings and thoughts that Anywhere But Here has stirred up in you as you listened, and this last track gives you that opportunity to breathe, chill, and relax at the end.  What a remarkable talent this guy is!  I’ve been nothing but impressed with Bully’s music from the moment I started listening to it, and the attachment only grew exponentially with each spin of the record.  This is an accomplishment…an achievement…an album that he should be nothing but proud of, in my personal opinion.  I don’t think I’ll be alone in feeling that way for what it’s worth…Anywhere But Here might not be decked out with the traditional or typical definition of hits as we tend to think about songs at their most single-worthy sound – but if you’re looking for an irresistible lineup of bulletproof material, I can’t recommend this record highly enough.  As a critic who is so often listening to something and then onto whatever’s next, this is the perfect example of an album I just want to constantly spend my time with.  Hay’s easily converted me into a lifelong fan with his efforts on this album…he’s a fantastic singer, exceptional musician, and outright AMAZING songwriter, armed with the kind of ideas that reveal the man at the heart of it all giving absolutely everything to his music, and consequently to you, as listeners in turn.  Every time I pushed play again throughout this past week, I was there on the edge of my seat until the sublime final notes of “Here It Comes Again” had finished with its spellbinding combination of vocal harmonies, subtle strings, and acoustic guitar, ready to hit the repeat button to do it all over again…and I feel like it’s gonna be that way for quite some time.

Do. Not. Miss. This. Album.

Find out more about Bully Hay from his official website at:  https://www.bullyhay.com

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