I hadn’t heard of Canadian indie band Hooded Fang before settling into my seat on the bus (my control environment) to listen to their new album Gravez.
First impressions weren’t great and I was prepared to write them off, but I went back and listened to their previous album, 2012’s Tosta Mista, which I instantly liked a lot more than the new release. So as a band, I’m giving them another chance, I’m just not convinced by Gravez.
I’m not sure that I get what it’s all about. It’s frenetic and fast paced, but with a press release that praises their imagination and creativity, I found myself struggling to identify anything that sounded truly unique, instead, drawing many parallels with other bands like The Vaccines, The Drums, and maybe a bit of Vampire Weekend. It’s much less tuneful and melodic than Tosta Mista; instead, comes across as a hasty 30 minutes of music.
I quite like the clangy, twangy intro and outro pieces, and it starts off at a hectic pace with first track ‘Graves’, which sounds a bit like anything from the aforementioned The Vaccines’ first album. ‘Ode to Suburbia’ is probably my favourite track. ‘Bye Bye Land’ sounds to me to have echoes of The Shins’ ‘Young Pilgrims’, and ‘Trasher’ comes over all a bit Rock Lobster.
The band is singer/producer Dan Lee, April Aliermo (bass), Lane Halley (guitar), and D.Alex Meeks (drums). Aliermo says the band had been to the moon and back in the making of the album.
“There were really amazing times and really rough times… like any journey to the moon,” she says. “We ate crocodile balls, slept on floors and couches, watched TV and movies, and looked out the window in between. All this steady instability must have influenced Gravez.” Sounds fun, but I’m still not convinced.
The overblown press release accompanying the album marvels the fact that the group even had time to write, let alone record, a brand new album, owing to their numerous side projects. I can’t help but think that if they had made Gravez a priority, it might be more enjoyable, rather than what to me sounds a bit rushed and thrashed out. Still, as I said before, I quite like Tosta Mista, so I’m sure there’s plenty more up their multi-talented sleeves.
5/10
by Patricia Turk
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