Hookworms

Pearl Mystic

Written by: BV on 27/04/2013 20:05:04

Hookworms have recently been tagged with the mark of being part of the ’new wave of psychedelia’ alongside bands like Tame Impala. However, where Tame Impala offers a more American sort of ‘sunburnt’ California psych vibe, Hookworms differ quite greatly from that by offering a slightly darker and aggressive version of psych as they see it. The influences from Primal Scream are obvious but not overpowering, and the whole album emits the vibe of a somewhat bad trip.

Opening the album is the track “Away/Towards” which bears the mark of the heavy Primal Scream influence. The track has a slow build up as it takes just about two minutes for the track to really pick up and turn into a droning psych track with little development except for the periodical vocal outbursts that are clearly meant as a kind of substitute for a chorus, in the more or less classical verse/chorus/verse form. This is a decent example of psychedelia, but it isn’t really where Hookworms are at their best.

No, Hookworms at their best can clearly be heard in the instrumental suites “I”, “II”, and “III”. – Freed from lyrical tyranny these ambient instrumental tracks develop quite a bit over the short time they span and instead of what seems to be the original purpose, creating instrumental segues forming a passage from one lyric-based track to another, they remarkably dominate the album by being the strongest content on there in terms of riveting sounds and ambience.

However, if lyric-driven psychedelia is just your kind of thing, one shouldn’t miss the track “Form and Function”. “Form and Function” is a great example of a psych-like soundscape that acts as a mere vehicle for the lyrics. With its underplayed organ-tones and the fuzzy guitar lurking all over the track, the vocals really get most of the focus despite them being hard to decipher with all the echoing going on. The slightly eastern flavored guitar-lead towards the middle of the track is eerie, yet captivating and functions great as a non-traditional kind of guitar-solo.

While Hookworms are definitely a part of this so-called wave of new psychedelic bands, they still differ vastly from the band that they are most commonly associated with (Tame Impala). What needs to be stressed here is that, even though many bands make up the new wave of psychedelia, there are as many sub-genres and styles of psychedelia as there are in more common genres like metal, and each of those sub-genres will eventually evolve into a new sub-genre. Such is the inevitable evolution of experimental psychedelia, ensuring that things never really get boring – just far out.

Download: Form and Function, I, II, III
For The Fans Of: Tame Impala, Jess & The Ancient Ones, Troldmand
Listen: facebook.com

Release Date 04.03.2013
Gringo Records


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