Hoo - We Shall Never Speak

Hoo take an atmospheric journey mixing soft sonic textures with emotional heaviness.

Another fine record I've had the pleasure of immersing myself in recently is this second long-player from Hoo, the follow-up to 2019's Centipede Wisdom. Hoo's musicians include Nick Holton (Black Hearted Brother), Neil Halstead and Ian McCutcheon (both ex-Slowdive). Guest musicians on We Shall Never Speak include Farmer Dave Scher (Beechwood Sparks, All Night Radio), and folk singer Jackie Oates. Together they've concocted a slow-burning, atmospheric set of songs that blend of floaty dream-pop, shoegaze and soft electro. 

There's a glacial majesty that coats the album's nine tracks, along with a subtle but insistent emotional pull. The vocals for the most part sit deliberately low in the mix, a production decision that aids the cumulative moodiness. We Shall Never Speak is part soundscape, part cinematic Krautrock, and part score to a modern ballet that may or may not exist. The record opens with 'Ghost in You', a track that features subtle unsettling pitch shifts and expert use of guitar effects atop synth washes and bold chord changes. The mood is set then for a meditative exploration of one's own headspace. The aptly titled 'Cranium' follows with its foreboding electronic pulses.

Jackie Oates makes her first appearance on 'The Mighty', which also features flute played by Robin Bennett. It has a simple but haunting melody and spectral guitar lines which slowly build in force and momentum. 'Still Dream' is based around a rumbling bassline and brings to mind a soft-focus version of Echo & The Bunnymen. Another perhaps unintentional touchstone is OMD's Dazzle Ships, most specifically via the electronic squelches on short track 'No One Can Ever See This'.

The album's centrepiece is its title track. It's also the album's most experimental moment, full of cascading synth notes and dub-laden echoey vocals. Jackie Oates returns on 'Powder Moon', which opens with vamped piano chords before her authoritatively beautiful vocal performance. She also sings on 'You Changed The Way You Smile', a relatively poppy affair which also features Farmer Dave playing a lap steel solo. 'Sea of Glass' closes the record while maintaining its beguiling mix of soft textures and emotional heaviness. It all adds up to an album that's best listened to in a solitary one-sitting, start-to-finish manner, perfect for those still moments that mid-winter provides.

 

Psychic Lemon – Frequency Rhythm Distortion Delay

Straight outta Cambridge! An album to blur the lines between space-rock, shoegaze, trance and indie.

One album that's had repeated listens round our house over the Yuletide period has been the second long-player from Cambridge based trio Psychic Lemon. They may have formed a stone's throw from Syd Barrett's home but their music is not so much The Madcaps whimsy and a trip through Carroll's Looking Glass, as it is a foray into how far a four-piece band can push into uncharted sonics. More outward looking expansion than an examination of the inner-self.

This is apparent from the album's opening track 'Exit To Death Lane', a driving mix of spaced-out indie rock with low-in-the -mix vocals, a baggy-era drumbeat, pulsing bass, and guitar lines that are not afraid to experiment with whatever effects are at hand and can be turned up to eleven. This commitment so sonic adventure is a thread which permeates throughout the rest of the album.

Each listen seems to throw up something new, a fill I'd not noticed here, subtle use of effects there, the way the bassline pushes and pulls into new sections and possibilities. There's plenty of drone and soundscaping going on but always with a pulse, a drive and a direction. And always a promise that as a listener you're going to be taken somewhere. If pushed to guess influences I'd say My Bloody Valentine's Glider EP, Hawkwind, Goat, a healthy dose of Kosmische Musik, and some dancefloor vibes – the repetition and altered states aimed for in trance and rave music.

This is not about genres or influences though, it's music that has the power to transport, music that is both big on energy and ideas. It's meditative and expansive, yet also has the power to move your feet. Also worth checking out is the saxophone on 'Satori Disko' courtesy of guest musician Iain Roddick, which adds a new and unexpected dimension to their palette. Do please have a listen.

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The Orange Drop - Stoned In Love

Blissed out psych-rock from Philadelphia!

It's been a busy time recently at HDHQ, which means I haven't been able to post as often as I would have liked. With Christmas, work and family commitments, a couple of bouts of man-flu my little music blog has been a little neglected of late. But with a new year comes a new start, and a firm promise to myself that I'll make more time for writing. There's so much great music around at the moment. If I can help in some small way bring it just a little more recognition then it's well worth it. Which brings me to this fine record that came out in November last year. It's been a favourite on my listening pile for the last couple of months.

Not an album that you could easily pigeonhole into a recognisable genre (but hey, ain't they often the best?!), this sonically beautiful set of songs has elements of pop, shoegaze, indie, dream-pop and acid-rock yet is not restricted by any of these labels. The album opens with 'Juniper Pearl', sadness tempered with melody and marked out by the vocals which bear an uncanny likeness to those of a young Bobby Gillespie. 'The Curse Of Kukaku' features Dave Gilmour-esque gilded guitar which takes of into the space-rock stratosphere and into the track's hypnotic coda. Tasty!

'Make It Her, Forever' begins with a portentous eastern drone. Its use of quiet/loud dynamics and guitar tremolo. 'Julia Dream' is like a lost Lennon White Album out-take, with a slightly sinister nursery rhyme vibe to it. Simple but enhanced by trippy studio effects. That's it till the end of side one but there's plenty more sonic joys to be had – the dubby beats on 'Substance B', the funky bass and fuzz guitar of 'Hey Man' and the more garage-rock stylings on 'If You Feel It'. Fans of Spiritualized, Heron Oblivion, Ultra Vivid Scene and their ilk are well advised to seek this LP out.

The band are from Philadelphia. There seems to be a happening neo-psych scene there at the moment. You should also check out Shadow Band, who have more of an acid-folk bent rather than the new psych-rock sound of The Orange Drop. But it's interesting to note both bands are mining yesterday's sounds and making something new, vibrant, and very enjoyable. Go check 'em out!

Available on limited edition orange vinyl (250 copies) and CD.

The Orange Drop are -

Marc-Andre Basile – vocals, guitar

Anthony Bove – drums

Matt Calhoun – bass

Peter Stanko - guitar

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