The Hot Lies - HeartAttacks and Callous Acts

Wed 5th Oct, 2005 in Music Reviews

Adelaide quintet The Hot Lies currently has the potential to effortlessly woo the local scene, and possibly move even further with their radio-friendly punk pop hybrid. It’s only been just over a year since the band’s home recorded demo hit Triple J airwaves, and already the boys have earned themselves generous helpings of street cred. In addition to the impressive live reputation and recommendations by Blunt Magazine comes the band’s latest EP, produced in Melbourne by Kalju Tonuma (also responsible for punching out Bodyjar and Motorace records).

Well, there’s certainly no lack of energy when it comes The Hot Lies EP opener, Ghosts and Mirrors. A barrage of hard guitar riffs and thundering skin-slapping provides a ferocious undertow and Pete Wood’s vocals swim from an insistent verse into screaming chorus seamlessly. It’s a ridiculously accessible track with the trademark hooky chorus. It’s also a good example of the screamo lite that’s risen to gargantuan proportions lately.

Breakaway is more of the same: melodious, comfortably predictable verse with the occasional lowered tempo of a bridge, then a launch into the energetic and catchy chorus with conventional placement of cymbal crashes and vocal emphasis. After one listen, you’ve got the vocals and air guitar down pat.

After this so-so monotony, Promise Me begins interwoven with a hint of dark tension. Piston-quick riffing props Wood’s vocals up and it’s looking good. Maybe this could go somewhere interesting…no, I was wrong. It’s the same high-octane, polished pop punk with multi-part harmonies and cute melodies. If you took out the amps and the kit mics and slowed the whole track down, it could make a lovely acoustic pop song.

Next up it’s a grungier affair with Tell Me Goodnight. There’s a momentary hint of Hot Hot Heat vocal style, and an attention-grabbing skittering rhythm, but true to form, the track is soon enveloped by that power pop rock sound. It’s definitely college radio material – and safely predictable enough to prove very popular.

Taking Chances takes flatness of the EP to an all new level. The boys are really trying hard here, but it’s just not happening. Despite the obvious level of energy expended, this track seems to have been strained to such a degree that it has inverted and become completely neutral. There are however, a few fleeting moments of solid rock, in which the band does a sneaky time change before the end of the song.

This is music purely for the lethargic (or uninitiated) listener. Although it’s not offensive, abrasive or particularly banal, it’s generally just a patchwork of clichés and appropriated sounds. If you’ve heard After the Fall, Simple Plan, or any other melodic phrase-for-a-band-name subgenres of ‘punk’, you’ve heard this EP already.