Eastern Hollows - Eastern Hollows

Die erste Vorladung (IV)

Personalien:

Zur aus Brooklyn stammenden Band Eastern Hollows gehören Travis deVries (Gesang, Gitarre, Percussion), Martin Glazier (Gesang, Gitarre), Sean Gibbons (Gitarre), Brian Brennan (Bass) und Jeremy Sampson (Schlagzeug, Percussion).

Tathergang:

Ihrer ersten EP ("Days Ahead"), die 2012 veröffentlicht wurde, folgten beim Label Club AC30 zunächst die beiden Singles "Summer's Dead" und "The Way You've Gone" und nun auch das dazugehörige, selbstbetitelte Debütalbum von Eastern Hollows. 

Plädoyer:

Wäre hier nicht bereits verraten worden, dass die Band aus Brooklyn stammt, so würden sicherlich viele beim Hören von "Eastern Hollows" darauf tippen, dass sie aus einer 5 376 km entfernten Stadt stammen. Aus Manchester in England, um genau zu sein. Denn Travis deVries klingt stimmlich nicht nur ein wenig nach Ian Brown, auch seine Bandkollegen haben bei dem, was vor fast 25 Jahren aus Manchester zu hören war, gut aufgepasst. Hinzu kommen eine Prise C86, ein wenig Shoegaze und ein bischen düsterer Psychedelic-Pop im Sinne von The Cure oder The Jesus And Mary Chain, so dass Freunde von The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Ride und Co. den Eastern Hollows eine Chance geben sollten. Die Blumenauswahl auf dem Plattencover war sicherlich nicht zufällig! Nur mit dem Anagramm - ich hab's versucht - hat es nicht ganz funktioniert: The Wollan Roses?

Zeugen:

Indeed, there’s a British sheen to these songs, but the band do cite Oxford legends Ride as an influence. Along with The Stone Roses and The Jesus And Mary Chain, so it makes sense.
Eastern Hollows don’t rely on the shoegaze  hallmarks though, the album only lightly nods its head that way. There’s very little pitch bending or destructive distortion, instead they rely on classic rock n’ roll with plenty of reverb and singable melodies. It’s an accessible record with a 90s frame of mind. Apart from the aforementioned singles, ‘Mickey Galaxy’ is a stand out. A dreamy slow burner that escalates over five plus minutes. Overall, Eastern Hollows is solid debut offering that ticks the boxes you’d expect but also has enough diversity to keep you listening. They’ve come a long way since releasing their ‘Days Ahead’ EP in 2012 and deserve all the praise coming to them.
(Sounds Better With Reverb)

Singer Travis DeVries has the feyness of voice all worked out too, somewhere between Ian Brown and Tim Burgess and Andy Bell and that guy from the Telescopes, the nothingness-as-a-virtue delivery as simultaneously frustrating and engaging as all of them. A level above the punningly named generation of covers outfits of today, it's also true to say that when he and his comrades are in that swirly, tremolo laden guitar effects world inhabited largely by the regulars of Snub TV, their analogies work out fine. Half of Days Ahead has also made it here, including the title track which sounds almost eerily reminiscent of The Cure, whilst Still Smile neatly boxes up their Ride/Roses obsession into one hybrid song, all quiet-loud ripples and 60's soaked melodies at the ready like ducks wadding neatly in a row.
When they vary the course however the sun hat doesn't quite fit. No one is saying you need to have been brought up in a back to back to write songs called Northern Lad, but well..it might've helped here, as what's normally lightweight turns into insipid. In a similar way Mickey Galaxy is a timely reminder that even viewed through from a nostalgic perspective, too much of the original stuff was barely nuanced, acres of sound alike filler which mistook it's haziness for atmosphere and drifted into nothingness.
It's a cautionary tale, but Eastern Hollows still has enough reverence to please the paunchy, receding faithful, despite it's clear derivation. Via The Way You've Gone the band are happy to climb up tempo and as a consequence poke the listener deeper into the dry ice, whilst Somewhere In My World strides slightly further back, it's tailor made for the Sarah label mantra making it one of the most precious sounding tunes you'll hear in 2014.
On what riches playing this brand of music will bring in the future, Hollows drummer Jeremy Sampson is very clear; “marry some models, divorce the models, a drug overdose or two, break up, reunion tour and then… do it all over again.” He's joking of course and if they were as Anglicised as the band's music sounds the answer would probably be something about having a cup of tea. Perhaps a bit too nice for their own good, Eastern Hollows are making the sounds of yesterday today, gamely resuscitating the corpse that Kurt made. Whether it's Frankenstein is down to you.
(Arctic Reviews)

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