Hinds - Leave Me Alone

Am 29. Januar präsentiert uns Christoph vom Konzerttagebuch auf einer spanischen Indiepop Party im Kölner Club Tsunami gleich drei Bands von der iberischen Halbinsel: When Nalda Became Punk, The Royal Landscaping Society und Linda Guilala.

Carlotta Cosials (Gesang, Gitarre), Ana García Perrote (Gesang, Gitarre), Ade Martín (Bass) und Amber Grimbergen (Schlagzeug) hätten mit ihrem schräg-schrammeligen Garagen-Rock mit spanischem Akzent auch gut auf diese Bühne gepasst. 

Das Quartett aus Madrid besteht seit 2011 und nannte sich zunächst Deers. Nach ihren ersten Single-Veröffentlichungen meldete sich jedoch eine andere Band gleichen Namens, so dass sich die jungen Damen umbenennen mussten und aus den Hirschen (Deers) einfach Hirschkühe (Hinds) wurden.

Ihr heute erscheinendes Debütalbum "Leave Me Alone" fast nun die früheren Singles "Bamboo", "Castigadas En El Granero" und "Chili Town" zusammen, erweitert sie um "Garden" und acht weitere rumpelnd-rohe Indiepop Songs im Lofi-Gewand. Optisch sind Hinds eine Mischung aus Warpaint und Haim, akustisch eher zwischen The Vaccines, Mac DeMarco, The Strokes und dem Girlpop der 60er Jahre zu verorten.

The songs feel rugged and wild. The vocals ramble and clash over-top of each other, competing for the lead. When they do line up, it feels blissful, but the finishing of each other’s sentences is the record’s true strength. Everything feels spontaneous, as if someone recorded the songs as they were being written.

The women’s Spanish accents and inflections will beg English-speaking listeners to pay extra close attention to the words. Phrases like “saliva mixed with ice” on “Chili Town” are bewitching, a twist you might not get from someone speaking in their native language. It’s not always clear what they mean, but these turns of phrase are always enticing in their surrealistic sexuality. To love like the members of Hinds is to literally flirt with danger. “San Diego”, for example, strings together drug blindness and dying from lack of affection.

The characters in Hinds’ brief stories feel fleshed out and vibrant, whether it’s the guy classifying his cassettes on “Bamboo” or the drunk texting on “Fat Calmed Kiddos”. They stand up to the bad boy archetypes on “Garden”, throwing layers of off-kilter melodies as they chant, “I feel like I’m freezing again/ And you won’t say you’re bored anymore.”

The band’s whimsical, frenzied lyricism feels like a new breed of confessional songwriting, a surreal stream of consciousness buried in a diary. This is most apparent on the ukulele ballad “I’ll Be Your Man”. Gender archetypes are thrown to the wayside as they hiss, “I could be your baby, but I’ll be your man.” It’s a lovely ode to companionship and stability that stays away from the tropes of more conventional ballads. At its best, the album takes familiar tropes and twists them until they wring out the essence of what other bands might only point at.

Garage rock typically relies on unhinged messiness and raw power. Hinds execute the genre’s touchstones effortlessly, without needing to replicate that stereotypical fuzz and burn. Making an old model feel fresh is no easy task, but Hinds largely accomplish it, embracing the intriguing sloppiness of their predecessors while making steps on their own. Who knows where this promising debut will lead, but only Hinds can guess.

(Consequence Of Sound)

Hinds zwar nicht beim "Verbena Pop"-Abend in Köln, dafür aber:

15.01.2016 Berlin, Lido
16.01.2016 Hamburg, Molotow
17.01.2016 Frankfurt, Zoom
26.01.2016 München, Milla