Hinds
When people talk about the band the Regrettes they get super excited about their whole "Ramones meet girl group pop" vibe. There's truth to that, although let's not overlook the fact that the Ramones are basically a '60s girl group made up of grungy dudes with guitars. The Regrettes are a delight, and Feel Your Feelings, Fool! was one of my favorite albums of 2017. It's a great album, even if the lyrics can be a bit childish, which is fine because their frontwoman is literally a child. However, before the Regrettes, there was Hinds, and there new album I Don't Run demands not to be overlooked.
Hinds
Although, maybe it's more apt to call Hinds "Velvet Underground meets girl group pop." Their sound is deeply lo-fi and they cite a litany of garage rock and garage pop bands as influences. However, the quartet of ladies also come from Madrid, Spain, which further individualizes their sound. I loved their first album Leave Me Alone. It was infectious. As tinny and muddy as the sound could be, the catchiness was palpable. It was classic first album stuff.
However, following a first album, a second album must follow. Well, unless you want to go one-and-done and retire on top. There is a well-worn adage in music circles about sophomore albums. A band has their entire lives to work on their first album, but then they have to turn around and make a second. Can it ever be as good? Can the magic ever be recaptured?
The answer, at least in terms of I Don't Run, is "yes." Hinds didn't pull a Pavement and go from a Slanted and Enchanted to a Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. There was no change of direction, no shift in sound. It seems like Hinds' thought process was, "What if we made Leave Me Alone again, but tighter and sharper?"
That's not a bad thing, of course. Leave Me Alone was a delight. The instrumentation was catchy if technically sloppy and listening to the voices of the four women intermingle is what calls to mind the Supremes and Shangri-Las of the world. Hinds has two regular frontwomen who share vocals pretty equally" Carlotta Cosials and Ana Garcia Perrote. I will admit I can't identify who is who, but their voices are distinct. One is smoky, perhaps even sultry, while the other is more plaintive and emotive. Despite that, it all feels of a piece. The voices complement each other, they do not compete for your attention.
Their sound is deeply lo-fi and they cite a litany of garage rock and garage pop bands as influences.
Weirdly, the Wikipedia page for I Don't Run says that it deals with more mature themes than Leave Me Alone, even though the albums seem to be about literally all the same stuff. I suppose that's what I get for reading Wikipedia. The ladies of Hinds seem to find themselves in a series of unfulfilling, complicated, and at times miserable romantic situations. Their pain becomes our pleasure, or at least our comfort. It'd be nice for them to be able to sing a song about how their love lives are going great, but I cannot simply wish that into being.
The album stretches almost 40 minutes, which is a bit much. I admit that when the penultimate song, "Rookie," ended and the final song, "Ma Nuit," began I was a bit surprised. "Rookie" felt like a definitive closing track, and then here comes another four minutes of music that was perhaps unnecessary and did not wow me. Is that nitpicking? Of course, but if you don't like musical nitpicking why have you read this long into a musical review?
The somewhat sloppy sound may be a bit tighter, but the garage rock vibe is still there. You can just bathe, dare I say luxuriate, in the sound. It's a delight, although of course as you listen more and the lyrics stick with you more you can't do that as much. You can't just chill and listen to songs about infidelity, unless you are a weirdo.
There are not many opportunities to listen to young Spanish women make pretty garage rock (partially) in English, and to be fair I was not looking for such an experience. I was looking for good music, and I found it in Hinds. I Don't Run is possibly better than Leave Me Alone. I'm not sure yet. The songs of the latter have been with me for so long. I was listening to early versions of them before their debut album even came out. I Don't Run hasn't grabbed me by my proverbial lapels (I rarely wear shirts with lapels), but I have enjoyed it immensely. Hinds may not run, but I hope you do run to give this album a spin. And I hope Hinds will forgive me for that lame joke.
