Biography
Kristóf Hajós is a queer Hungarian singer, lyricist and musician based in Amsterdam, formerly of the slowcore pop and chamber ballad band The Unbending Trees (2006-2015). Delivering intimate, genre-blurring performances that blend queer narratives with a rich history of chamber pop and jazz-inflected cabaret, he has been praised by The Guardian and The Times and has had tracks played on BBC6 Music.
Kristóf began a solo career in 2020, releasing a string of singles and a full album “Good Morning, Nothingness” in November 2022. The album is one of reconciliation of past and embracing a new life, healing from traumas and turning towards the future. In 2023 he released his second album “GEOGRAPHY”, which reflected on relocation and the question of identity. The most played song from this album surpassed 400k streams on Spotify. On the album that followed, he turned to exploring what it means to grow old, especially in the queer community, to become a role-model involuntarily. 6:00PM was released Spring 2025 digitally and on vinyl and was produced by Stefan Breuer (The World of Dust, Combo Qazam, ex-I am Oak), containing 9 chiseled pop songs which musically reflect both the 1980’s and the present time. The opening track, “Goodbye Budapest” was played by BBC 6Music.
In the year to follow, he went back to his musical roots and released a number of piano based covers, such as Here Comes The Rain Again, which has surpassed 500k streams. He also started working with the Greek-British pianist, Nikos Stavlas, with whom he formed a jazz / pop / cabaret act and debuted with two sold out shows in Amsterdam in December 2025 and in June 2026. The digital release ‘At The Godown’, consisted of one original song from his The Unbending Trees era and four covers: My Funny Valentine, Cry Me A River, Over The Rainbow and the Hungarian Gloomy Sunday. They will perform again, two (already sold out) concerts in Budapest in October.
This spring has also seen Kristóf’s first ever French language release, Apparitions, also played by @BBC6Music, written and produced by the Parisien Samuel Rozenbaum.
End of 2026, he is releasing his fourth solo album “Dark Matter, Light Heart”, produced by Jesse Blake Rundle (Boise, ID) it explores a crunchier, more mid 90’s drum loops and guitar driven indie-pop style with themes opening up the horizon to more hope and light. The pair have written the nine songs within the course of two weeks at the beginning of the year, which created a uniquely unified, yet diverse album. There are still reckonings of Kristóf’s influences of the 1980s, strong harmony vocals and introspective lyrics, which Jesse has matched and raised with tactile, guitar-forward arrangements influenced by 2010s era indie rock and vintage American folk heroes.
Kristóf says about the album: “It was very important to me to bring in a wink and a smile after three albums of rather serious and gloomy business. Turning 50 made me reflect and realize that I may have finally ‘landed in my body.’ ” This shift is also told in the shape of a spoken word story in the second song of the album The Story Of My Light Heart.
Social Media
Press/Media Presence
2025
WoNo Magazine 19 February 2025
“Kristóf Hajós’ voice is leading the way. Sometimes a little uncertain, sometimes as if in dreams, but always going forward, if delicate.”
“He is all but a household name […] but that should not deter you from listening to 6:00PM. It is an album to cherish.”
MuziScene Magazine 14 February 2025
“6:00 PM by Kristóf Hajós is an album that requires multiple listens to be fully appreciated. As you listen, you increasingly empathize with the singer…”
Winq Interview 14-02-2025
“My music is a mix of everything I’ve listened to in my 49 years, from classical music to ABBA, Pulp and The Cardigans. It’s pop, but with depth and darkness, a bit like the Pet Shop Boys would be working with Leonard Cohen. Laurence Stevens is one of the people who creates the artwork of my releases, and is also known for his cover designs for Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams eg). He once described my music as “strange pop’. I like that. I sometimes call it kitsch noir, because it has a very poppy element, but is also very brooding and can be self-sinister at the same time.”
Ondergewaardeerde Liedjes 14 February 2025
“It is a timeless work that also embraces a deeper understanding of the passage of time: as someone approaching fifty, Kristóf set out with 6:00PM to explore what it means to grow older, particularly within the queer community.”
“Another important component of Kristóf’s music is his warm, somewhat mature voice.”
Here Comes The Flood Music Weblog 10 February 2025
“The subtle, sensuous songs show more and different colours after each listen.”
De Muziekplank Review 26 February 2025
“Another strikingly beautiful song is the ‘Monsters & Sailors’ where you dream away in the sounds of percussion and the story-telling singing style.”
Ondergewaardeerde Liedjes 14 February 2025
“It is a timeless work that also embraces a deeper understanding of the passage of time: as someone approaching fifty, Kristóf set out with 6:00PM to explore what it means to grow older, particularly within the queer community.”
MusicSpots 13 February 2025
“Saying goodbye to one’s homeland is never easy, but I’ve rarely heard it captured so beautifully in music as here. “Goodbye Budapest” evokes nostalgia and melancholy, but also the certainty that there was no other way.”
Winq 23 December 2025
2024
Here Comes The Flood Music Weblog 15 November 2024
“Hungarian singer Kristóf Hajós has some mixed emotions as he waiting for this flight to take him back to the Netherlands on his new single Goodbye Budapest.”
Here Comes The Flood Music Weblog 22 January 2024
“Resorting to build one’s own Imaginary World can offer some solace and dreaming of exploring outerspace.”
2012
PPM Hungary 10 June 201
“recently the sophisticated Hungarian pop band The Unbending Trees have become something of an international hit with their brooding ballad “You Are A Lover,” which was released in England by the label Strange Feeling Records, and was subsequently covered by Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn.”
2008
The Guardian 2 Oct 2008
“He’s also often melancholic, a little introspective and – by the sounds of his husky voice – perhaps a bit under the weather. The Trees produce mournful but often majestic songs saved from gloom by some darkly comic touches; Leonard Cohen fans may want to investigate.”
The Times (paywall)
“He’s also often melancholic, a little introspective and – by the sounds of his husky voice – perhaps a bit under the weather. The Trees produce mournful but often majestic songs saved from gloom by some darkly comic touches; Leonard Cohen fans may want to investigate.”
Editorial Images
Live Recording
List of Concerts
With The Unbending Trees
2007
- London, United Kingdom, The Betsey Trotwood
- Budapest, Hungary, Kultea (Hangfoglalás)
- Budapest, Hungary, Pesti Színház (early acoustic / chamber showcases)
- London, United Kingdom, The Luminaire
- Various regional cultural centers , Hungary (early promotional acoustic sets with Havasi)
2008
- Budapest, Hungary, Pesti Színház
- Budapest, Hungary, Take Two (Hangfoglalás)
- London, United Kingdom, The Luminaire
- Various regional cultural centers, Hungary (album warm-up / piano-based chamber shows)
2009
- Budapest, Hungary, Magyar Rádió Stúdió 8 (MR2 Akusztik)
- Tokaj, Hungary, Hegyalja Fesztivál
- Debrecen, Hungary, Campus Fesztivál
- Budapest, Hungary, Sziget Fesztivál (Magic Mirror)
- London, United Kingdom, Bush Hall
2010
- Pécs, Hungary, European Capital of Culture (Pécs2010)
- Budapest, Hungary, A38 Ship
2011
- Budapest, Hungary, A38 Ship
2012
- Bucharest, Romania, Sala Palatului (guest)
- Budapest, Hungary, Papp László Sportaréna (guest)
2015
- New York City, United States, Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage) (guest)
As a solo artist:
- 19/03/2022 – Budapest, Gödör klub
- 18/01/2023 – Amsterdam, De Roode Bioscoop
- 03/04/2023 – Utrecht, Studio Patrick
- 13/05/2023 – Houten, De Groeverij
- 20/08/2023 – Oostknollendam, private
- 01/12/2023 – Amsterdam, De Roode Bioscoop
- 06/04/2024 – Budapest, Bősze Ádám Antikvárium
- 15/02/2025 – Amsterdam, The Godown
- 18/02/2025 – Utrecht, Studio Patrick
- 22/02/2025 – Budapest, Bősze Ádám Antikvárium (2 shows)
- 12/07/2025 – Winsum, Winsummerfest
- 20/09/2025 – Houten, De Groeverij
- 28/09/2025 – Eindhoven, POM
- 06/12/2025 – Amsterdam, The Godown (with Nikos Stavlas)
- 07/12/2025 – Amsterdam, The Godown (with Nikos Stavlas)
- 12/06/2026 – Amsterdam, The Godown (with Nikos Stavlas)
- 15/08/2026 – Utrecht, private
- 02/10/2026 – Budapest, Bősze Ádám Antikvárium (with Nikos Stavlas)
- 03/10/2026 – Budapest, Bősze Ádám Antikvárium (with Nikos Stavlas)
- 12/11/2026 – Amsterdam, Private
- 14/11/2026 – Utrecht, Studio Patrick