Hiawata! has been a hyped breeze in Oslo’s underworld for some time. After the vaguely acclaimed EP “Blacks on Blondes” from 2008, it’s time to see if these boys and this band can take the first leap into the indiean summer!
Remembering great summer bands in Hiawata!’s genre, one might be spoiled by solid back-catalogues and expect more. References are Teenage Fanclub/Grandaddy/Big Star in making straightforward summer pop and Band of Horses/The Thrills when it comes to lyrical achievements and lack of momentum. Will and should this be the soundtrack of an urban summer in Europe?
“These boys and this band is all I know” starts off with the beautiful intro to “Valley Boys” — a perfect radio hit. The same can be said about “That’s the Spirit”. Soothing, melancholic pop that reeks Horses. By the time you get past the third tune, one might believe that this album is the feel-good hit of the summer. “Suburbs” completes a troika of possible singles and could easily be the intro to “That 70s show”, if Norway ever decided to get its own. Can Hiawata! deliver from start to finish and become big stars?
The album jumps out of the starting blocks with elegant, playful indie. The listener passes the first three hurdles with pace and good vibrations. By the fourth you may want to go back to start. It almost feels like a false start. Yes, it is slack indiepop, but that’s not enough. In some cases this kind of naïve approach might work, but I miss vision, intensity and conviction in both production and performance. It is almost like a formula has been used to try and make it some sort of textbook “indie”. The drums, bass and guitars are there, but they blend into soundscapes that have been explored better before.
«I don’t need you to walk over me, but if you do, do you mind wearing your nice shoes» on “Put Me Down” is a combination of melody, voice, lyrics and production that fail to impress me. Besides, the bad pronunciation, embarrasing rhyming couplets like «baby I’ll sink, but still I don’t think» on “Chocolate for Breakfast” make my gut shiver. “Chocolate for breakfast” continues with the line «you’ve seen the last of me», where the rhythm and pacing of the melody is mediocre. This is not easy, smart pop. It shifts from part to part with no obvious direction, nor musical integrity. It doesn’t help that “Chocolate for breakfast” has a melody line practically identical to “Put me down”.
«In the end, everything all will work out fine,» Tore Løchstøer Hauge sings on “Lightning on the Sun”. It probably will, but “These boys and this band is all I know” feels like playing safe without flair. No finger on the pulse. No actual story to tell. After a few listenings, the melodies sound static and recycled. The lightning passed and triggered great expectations. Still, there were no alarms and no surprises, no aces up the sleeve.
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