White Hills
– Walks For Motorists (Thrill Jockey)
LP/CD/DL
Out Now
American
psychedelic rockers release their new album.
Dave W and
Ego continue their quite incredible output of (at least) one album per year
with Walks For Motorists. What is even
more incredible is the quality of each release which improves album to album.
Walks For
Motorists is probably their finest album yet.
Making the not-so-short journey from America to Wales to record their
first album outside of New York they launch straight into first single No Will
with the duo’s now characteristic Cramps rock guitar and throbbing bass synth
lines. Their style is unique and
powerful.
White Hills
are unique as they seem, presumably intentionally, to not fit neatly into any
genre. Their albums frequently feature
dirty rock, grunge, electronica and a bit of prog psychedelia thrown in for
good measure with equal mixes of dark haunting humour and a splash of experimentalism. Whether it be the curiously entitled £SD Or
USB or the near hip-hop beat of Wanderlust, White Hills never fail to
disappoint.
Lead The Way
has a near Metal Guru riff as it slowly slips and slides in a dystopian jumble
of lazy drums and carefree guitar meanderings for nigh on nine minutes, and I
Nomad represents an instrumental along the lines of OMD meets Kraftwerk. Certainly the duo aren’t afraid of mixing
sounds and styles which maybe shouldn’t work but always do.
The
involvement of David Wrench who helped record the album has added a sometimes
softer, stripped-down sound as his experience in the field of electronic music
produces a more clinical end result. We
Are What You Are goes totally overboard with pretentious guitar solos and sound
fabulous for it.
Automated
City trundles along with a continuous bassline which grips the minimalist track
by the proverbial throat, and Life Is Upon You has hints of Bowie’s
Heroes. That said, it’s important to say
how original White Hills are, and will surely soon be emulated by many bands
over.
Album closer
and title track has further musical nods, this time in the direction of Depeche
Mode’s Walking In My Shoes, contains few lyrics in favour of sound bytes and
clips over its near seven minutes as one the White Hills’ best albums draws to
a close.
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