Water For The Frogs. Hooveriii

Hooveriii or Hoover three, is an American band that started as the one person drum machine project of Bert Hoover, believe it or not. Now I can't really imagine what that sounded like. The music Hooveriii makes in 2021 resonates quite easily in these ears. Having already come by on this blog with the single 'Control, an extremely strong song, the six piece band returns here with its second album, Water For The Frogs.

Hooveriii combines parts of rock music, with psychedelic under and over tones, in the mind and in space. This results in an album that is as spacey as it is solid. That solidness comes forward in the firm drums and bass notes that work itself around the drums, but also the hammered piano notes. It all comes together in 'Cindy' the song that opens Water For The Frogs. From that solid foundation Hooveriii is able to elaborate a little. The rather dreamy singing comes forward first. The lead guitar may sound loud, it also holds a little mystery that adds to the song. An interesting beginning of the album it is.

'Control' comes next and I can't help but marvel at the organ sound that hides a little behind the wall of sound Hooveriii puts up for us. The melody it plays is so nice. Four notes is all it takes in the chorus part to reach musical heaven. 'Control' is even tighter than 'Cindy' is. It's the kind of song that nears perfection or simply just is.

By the time 'Hang Em High' starts it is possible to come to a first conclusion. On Water For The Frogs Hooveriii connects 60s psychedelia with more modern alternative rock. The spacey melody really touches on psychedelia from long ago. The music the band plays is of a tightness no band in the 60s could imagine and maybe average band couldn't achieve. Musicians seem to have become an awful lot better, technically and where arrangements are concerned. Of course, the songs of old remain the masterpieces they were. There a band like Hooveriii has an issue, simply because the old songs were stamped onto an empty page. Water For The Frogs has to compete very hard there.

Looking at it from a fresh point of view, as in what has been released in the last, say, 11 years, then the picture is shifts. What I like about this album, is the successful mix that is presented. I can look at this album from both angles, rock and psychedelic, and like it because both work really well. Even when the song really goes far out, like in 'Shooting Star', a Bowie like saxophone sounds out to give the psychedelic song a sound base. Like the sound of a foghorn coming to me through the mist, announcing the presence of a boat somewhere, without me having a clue where. That is how that sax sounds to me.

Next up are an intriguing instrumental, a nice up tempo psychedelic rock song, to finish the album with an almost 10 minute long song. In short, Water For The Frogs is an album that not only varies, but convinces.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Water For The Frogs here:

https://hooveriii.bandcamp.com/

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g