The concept of someone or something being “underrated” is kind of silly if you think about it for too long. Actually, rating any band is strange. Musicians end up where they are because, well, most of us are in the minority when it comes to taste.

Going on five years now, I have been under the spell of English musician Robyn Hitchcock and his various other projects. His music often weaves between complex and whimsical themes, yet there is a magic that is in this music that is so difficult to put into words. If my love for England could be put into a sound, it would probably be summed up in his single “I Often Dream of Trains.”

And I have tried to see him perform live. This has somehow been one of the greatest “disaster” of my music life. When I am in the States, Hitchcock in the UK. When he is in the US, I have gone over seas. In a way, this has only added to the mystery of the man.

Hitchcock is the type of musician you can spend your days sinking your teeth into. Some songs are like a painting telling a story while others give a philosophy in under five minutes that you could mull over for hours.

Despite the adoring love from many, Hitchcock is rarely spoken about in major music publications. Most people seem to have skimmed over him entirely. It would be for a number of reasons, but like many that have been deemed underrated, there is something to their music that makes them unappealing to the masses. That reason more often than not has to possibly deal with subject matter.

While many people can relate to partying or falling in love (both are popular subjects in pop music, if you have yet to notice), but singing about complex feelings or even about the atmosphere of a moment. It’s not easy to share those types of subjects, but for those who can understand it’s worth holding on to.