Sydney-based pianist and producer Mark Andrew Hansen released “Love Enough” back in November 2020, right in the thick of COVID lockdowns, and the circumstances shaped the song in ways you can actually hear. Unable to work with anyone in person, Hansen found American vocalist Jes Hudak online, and the two traded files between Australia and the US until the track came together entirely through email. It’s a piano-led pop single, influenced by Hansen’s own admission by Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” built around the idea of two people separated and imagining reunion. The opening lyric, “It’s a long time since I’ve seen another face like another me,” sets that up plainly. No compression, no auto-tune – Hansen kept the production deliberately unprocessed, letting the performances carry the weight.
This song is very different from other releases by Mark Andrew Hansen that I’ve covered before, like “Afraid of Love No More,” where he handled the vocals himself. Here you can see that the piano lines are created specifically to complement Jes Hudak’s soulful and delicate vocals. The piano accompaniment is warm and works in close harmony with her heartfelt delivery to tell a timeless story about celebrating love and human connection, which is really what we live for and so desperately need to hold on to.
Hansen has said this is one of his favorites of everything he’s written, and that when he hears Hudak sing it, he sometimes forgets he wrote it. That’s probably the clearest thing you can say about how well the collaboration landed. “Love Enough” is a few years old now, but that context, two people making something hopeful across opposite ends of the world while the world was shut down, gives it a weight that doesn’t really age out.