Hot Hot Heat – FutureBreeds

Thu 22nd Jul, 2010 in Music Reviews

Hot Hot Heat is a punk band. Not punk in the safety pins and Mohawks way, but in the DIY, rough and ready way.

This album is punk in other ways, too – on first listen, it is extremely difficult to connect with. It is loud, and sonically very crowded, and frontman Steve Bays has always had a voice that straddled the compelling/excruciating divide. If you aren’t in the right frame of mind for this album when you put it on, it’s entirely possible you won’t make it beyond track three.

While sticking closely to the “indie rock” genre, HHH have never been afafraid to play around with some ideas. 21@12 and Goddess of the Prairie are pretty straightforward, but Zero Results stomps and growls with real menace, while Implosionatic flies along at full speed with guitars so angular they might just take off your head.

Nobody’s Accusing You (Of Having A Good Time) is a ripper also, and is probably the most listener-friendly on the album. Driven by a strong bass part, with an obvious structure to it, the only real problem with it is that it didn’t come sooner, which might have helped me get through the album without wanting to hit something.

What makes life really difficult here is the production. In keeping with the DIY aesthetic the band took on production duties themselves for the first time, and you can’t help but think that in more experienced hands this album might be allowed to breathe a little.

Instead, all the instruments are pushed to the same levels, and after a while it feels like you have been beaten around the head. After a couple of listens it is possible to unpack the layers a little, to focus on the (mostly good) songs themselves rather than the (often difficult) sounds, and to become accustomed to Bays’ voice.

But while the album rewards repeat listens, it doesn’t do much to encourage them. It’s not a bad album, by any means, and a lot of the songs are very well-written. But Hot Hot Heat have always been erratic, scattergun songwriters, and you really feel that some restraint was required from the producer’s chair to allow the quality of the songwriting to really come through. Unfortunately, it is instead hidden behind a wall of noise that even the most ardent fan may struggle to get around.