The sun-soaked garage pop of Madrid four-piece Hinds often feels so brazen that it dances on the edge of the ear-piecing. Their songs are full of tales of lavish crushes and misleading ex-lovers, and their second record I Don’t Run stays true to the band’s signature unapologetic harshness; an unlikely mix that makes the Spanish goofballs so endearing and fun.
Their desire to push the limits of sound meant the initial recording of bright single ‘The Club’ became so distorted that it was impossible for engineer Shawn Everett (Perfume Genius, The War On Drugs) to mix. Co-founder, vocalist and guitarist Carlotta Cosials explains this cheerily, clearly unafraid of the band’s imperfections.
“I think people are gonna freak out when they hear it,” says Cosials of I Don’t Run through a thick accent. “We decided to just leave a month and a half free to vomit every sensation we’ve had during two years and write the album.”
I Don’t Run moves through sad and swooning tracks like ‘Linda’ to the upbeat and self-critical ‘New For You’, combining the lo fi hazy vocals and slacker-pop of The Strokes with the confident flirtiness of April March and the straightforward lyricism of Best Coast. Cosials says right now she’s inspired by Chicago’s Twin Peaks’ penchant for songwriting (they toured with the band across the States): “We completely had a crush on each other,” she chirps.
Hinds began as a two-piece called Deers in 2011 when Cosials and co-founder Ana Perrote became bored of watching their boyfriends play in bands. “We just started as two friends taking two guitars, singing over two chords and falling in love with the sensation – it was pretty easy though,” she explains.
You can choose your life to serve your art.
Cosial’s favourite haunt in Madrid is Orchoymedio, a venue she describes as a cross between a discotheque and a club, and it was long, boozy nights at indie venues in Madrid that solidified her passion for making music. “We came out of the garage scene in Madrid, because before having the band we were such music lovers and we went to all the shows you can imagine.”
When asked if their male-dominated local scene was supportive during their emergence, Cosials shoots down the question. “No. No. Definitely not in Madrid. It was just intrusive for them. They were like, ‘What are these girls doing? They just started and they are going further than we’ve ever done.’”
Hinds didn’t allow themselves to become stagnant, rushing around the world to play their third and fourth shows in London and Berlin. “There’s, in my opinion, two different paths you can choose from. You can choose your life to serve your art – and we chose that one,” she says.
They’ve since been propelled into a state of constant international touring. They were one of the first Spanish bands to play Glastonbury Festival and have shared the stage with The Strokes and The Libertines; having recently played SXSW in Austin, they’ll (finally) play Primavera Sound in Barcelona this year, one of Spain’s biggest music festivals, and plan a return to Australia in early 2019.
We decided to be more honest and to be braver.
While their debut record Leave Me Alone was mainly made up of loose party bangers, I Don’t Run centres around the trials of growing up. “We decided to be more honest and to be braver and more straight with things that are going on. I think that’s why I Don’t Run is deeper than Leave Me Alone. As an artist you see good things and bad things; things that you could be proud of and things that you could be ashamed of,” explains Cosials.
One of the album’s highlights is the pulsing, angry and cheeky ‘Tester.’ When the song is brought up, Cosials responds with a shudder and cries ‘bleeeergh!’ “[It’s about] a moment in a relationship that isn’t a relationship yet, but suddenly you realise that person is fucking with another person and you’re not the only one so it’s kind of like a shocking moment.”
Perrote and Cosials turn a tender shared experience into a fun release of tension on the song, shouting the teasing antagonism: “Should I have known before you were also banging her?”
It was in part producer Gordon Raphael (The Strokes, Regina Spektor) who empowered them to access different sides of themselves. “He made different takes in different moods,” she explains. “Like, this take is going to be the funny one, and this take we’re going to do like, more angry or more furious so you can investigate and you can discover what is better.” Hinds have a strong DIY ethos, making their own merch and videos, so Raphael gave them space to be themselves.
I Don’t Run shows their fearless ability to dive head first into their problems. They sing “I wanna show you it’s cool to grow up” on ‘The Club’, a song “about the saddest and darkest part of the nights in Madrid … We have a lot of friends that are getting lost into the night.” They’ve spoken out about sexual harassment in a campaign with Madrid City Council, which she says was met with “a lot of love and a lot of hate … [but] we just wanted to do it for ourselves.”
And while their songs often reference romance, their friendship is at the front and centre of Hinds. “When we were playing in the middle of Europe in a festival that we really didn’t belong to, and it’s raining and it’s cold, suddenly you look around you and see your friends and it feels so good; like, ‘Dude, we’re here together.’”
I Don’t Run is out Friday April 6 through Inertia. Header photo by Neelam Khan Vela.
