The Hedgehogs

Our Minds Dyed Yesterday

Written by: BV on 10/04/2013 17:29:41

The Hedgehogs are a quintet from Aalborg, Denmark that essentially pick up where The Byrds left off ever so many years ago, while following in the proud tradition of ’lo-fi’ production, DIY spirit and jangling tunes filled with echoing vocals and swirly 12-stringed guitar sounds – sounds pretty trippy, right? Well, it is and their album “Our Minds Dyed Yesterday” is an album I regret not being able to pick up sooner. Nonetheless, I am glad I did – on to the review!

Opening track “Stumblin’ Around” has got a real 60’s garage/folk vibe to it, essentially crossing the trippy sounds of Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds, with slightly more garage oriented acts such as the Painted Faces – and they do with great success, as “Stumblin’ Around” has a certain catchiness to it, that has gotten the song to stick my mind for just about a week now. The track opens with a jangling 12-string guitar and is soon supplemented by a ‘traditional’ lineup in the form of bass, drums, echo-vocals and a hauntingly beautiful set of backup vocals. Together, these ingredients make up a track that is not only authentic, but also catchy as hell.

Some songs into the album, The Hedgehogs stray from the dreamy quality of their psych-jangling to become a full on garage-surf influenced act, with the introduction of the track “Dirty N’ Vile” – an up tempo track that still contains the jangling of the 12-strings, but also gets a healthy dosage of a mildly distorted bass sound and some overall more powerful drum-sounds. The up tempo rampage continues in the track “Mean Machine”, that most of all sounds like a ‘Blows Your Mind-era’ Baby Woodrose track to my ears, without the characteristic set of vocals. It’s not a bad thing however, as the dynamic change between jangling and dreamy folk to dirty and gritty garage sounds is quite welcome, and helps the listener to focus and listen to the album in its entirety.

The dreamy psych-folk sounds rise again on the track “Your Eyes” – a track that would probably have been hit-material in the 60’s with its slightly melancholic lyrics and psychedelia infused sound and the harrowing beauty of the bluesy harmonica solo. Under any circumstance, “Your Eyes” has without a doubt become my favorite track on the album and if I had to describe The Hedgehogs with one song, this would definitely be the one to play, as it is a pivotal example of how to write a 60’s influenced song in this over-produced era of music. In short, The Hedgehogs are lo-fi, psychedelic and gritty sounding and I’m digging them quite a lot.

8

Download: Your Eyes, Stumblin’ Around, Mean Machine
For The Fans Of: Painted Faces, The Byrds, Baby Woodrose, Jefferson Airplane
Listen: facebook.com

Release Date 10.10.12
Levitation Records



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