★★★★½
Full of blissfully raucous melodies teased with fuzzy, lo-fi guitars and enthusiastically heartfelt lyrics, Hinds’ debut is an impressive and punchy ragtag of tunes.
Not an easy thing to pull off considering garage rock is now an overly populated pond. But despite this, the Madrid four-piece still manages to sound dazzlingly fresh. Indeed, Leave Me Alone hits (almost) all the right, sun-drenched notes.The band originally formed as the duo Deers, back in 2011. However, it wasn’t until Ade Martín (bass) and Amber Grimbergen (drums) joined Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote (both vocals and guitar) that they began to flourish. Soon enough Canadian group The Dears threatened to sue over their name, hence the change to Hinds (female deer). From there it was all aboard the buzz train.
Channelling the likes of The Velvet Underground and The Growlers, they recorded Leave Me Alone with producer Diego García (of The Parrots). The knockout tracks are easily the jangly album opener ‘Garden’, the blisteringly wonderful ‘Chili Town’, and the gender-stereotype-smashing ‘I’ll Be Your Man’.
Singing in English with heavy Spanish accents, it is often hard to understand what they’re saying. But this just helps add an amusing and surreal energy to the mix.
Hinds’Leave Me Aloneis out on Lucky Number/Inertia.
