Hint

Born Jonathan James in 1981 in England, the Sussex-based producer known as Hint delivered his first full-length effort in 2003. The record, titled Portakabin Fever, took its name directly from the mobile home where James tracked the material using only a computer alongside guitar, bass, and keyboards. The resulting blend of hip-hop, funk, electronica, folk, and soul emerged from that isolated setting, yielding a restrained and understated collection frequently likened to the Beach Boys, Beta Band, Lemon Jelly, and especially the early work of Badly Drawn Boy. Prior to the album, James had issued material through Leicester’s Deep Water Recordings, including the Beau Selector EP, before moving to Bristol’s Hombre label, which operated in partnership with Ninja Tune and put out four EPs that paved the way for the debut. Although loosely aligned with the Ninja Tune aesthetic, the project avoided many down-tempo hip-hop conventions; James instead described the music as an attempt to capture the rural scenes visible from his window. Those countryside elements set Hint’s recordings apart from most of his downtempo peers. The album arrived with an illustrated booklet showing the artist angling in an imagined swamp beside the Portakabin, drawn by graphic artist Will Barras; the same imagery later inspired a serialized comic strip loosely drawn from James’s life that ran in the Japanese publication Plus 81.