Leave Me Alone. Hinds

"Let's go back, way back", was the way a novelty hit in the early 1970s of the Jimmy Castor Bunch started. Looking at the sleeve photo Hinds are all under 20, but the music is the kind that was made long before these girls were born.

Hinds is a four piece band from Madrid, Spain that started under the name Deer, but were forced by lawyers to change it to Hinds, female deer. Friends Ana Garcia Perrote and Carlotta Cosials started the band in 2011, soon joined by Ade Martin (bass) and Amber Grimbergen (drums). After a few singles that created quite a stir in the review section of the music world, it is time for a debut album of this lo fi, garage rocking ladies.

Rammelpop that's the Dutch word for what Hinds produces. "Ramshackle" what they call it themselves. I've found my term for this kind of music! The guitars are played in that jangly way, with a 60s feel and the singing is all but extremely tight, while the harmonies are with us since the first half of the 60s. The Shangri-Las come to mind foremost. Music the girls' grandparents may have sung along with. Even their parents were too young or not born at the time. That combination of harmony singing with alternative rock songs with a The Velvet Underground flavor comes with a punky attitude. The music is distinctly older than punk though. It holds elements of The Beatles at their most alternative, The Byrds in the guitar sound and every garage rock band from the U.S. from around 1966. The playing is all but extremely proficient. It is adequate for what is going on at Leave Me Alone. The makes the jangly, almost slacker atmosphere stand out. The slowly played lead notes come out with an ease that at the same time seems like the outer reach of the current potential.

Promo foto Hinds

All is drenched in an echo as if the music comes to us from a long time ago. The sound is somewhat muddied, as it should be. Any production would have killed the effect of Leave Me Alone. Hinds is the alternative reincarnation of The Bangles where the effect has to come from the music solely. In my opinion this music and this sound is what Hinds wants us to hear. Someone speaking bad of the album could say that this band left the rehearsal room two years to early, but I am certain that this is not the case. The jangly sound is just right and the harmony battles between Cosials and Perrote are fun to listen to.

Though revivalist Hinds may be, the band adds something to what went before and has come up with an alternative 60s rock album that is more than just fun. Leave Me Alone is dirty with a hint of class, like a countess in the gutter after a party that went on for too long and everyone left her behind/or like that girl I saw years ago. Early morning on my way to work I ran into this girl in her gala dress, passed out, legs spread wide in the shopping trolley she was set into pushed by two disheveled boys in destroyed tuxedos. The nations future glory down in dregs. Hinds brings to mind this kind of pictures and adds its own. Dirt, grime, dust of the past transposed in the present. Well done ladies.

Wo.

You can listen to 'Chile Town' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV84BS_DiYw

or buy on Bol.Com