About a week ago I saw that Hunting Club had a new album coming out. I immediately remembered that about two years ago Andrew Archer came out of nowhere with a great review of their debut album Plaid Album. I wondered how he was doing and promised myself that I would check out the album. A couple of days ago Andrew (now a recently published author! [check out the link below]) once again wrote me out of nowhere with a review of Hunting Club's new album Mosaic. Thanks again Andrew for another firey review! You're always welcome on these pages.
"Musical Concoctions"
I attended a Hunting Club show in the spring of 2012 at
“Cause” in Minneapolis (after party was at “Effect”). After covering most of “The
Plaid Album,” the instruments leapt into an awakening new track. Front man and
infinite hipster—Eric Pasi (known to wear sunglasses on cloudy
days)—had previously shared the unnamed song with me
via e-mail, so I had some vague familiarity to the track.
I’m not sure if “Double Vision” is
a dance or the dance created is the song?
The hairs on my arms and neck gathered while I felt my bodily atmosphere shift.
The feeling it invokes is between the one you get during a captivating speech and
the moment you found out Steve Jobs died; it sort of comes out of nowhere with
an auditory hurl, but parasitically implants itself. This shock never gets old.
If you don’t at least tap your foot to the jam I would consult a physician
about potential paralysis or other pseudo-neurological condition (e.g. blurred or
double vision):
how can you pretend it’s super-stition?
knowing what is next would beat you senseless
After the 5 to 6 audience
members left the venue, I slalomed to the front of the stage to catch up with Eric;
“That new [Double Vision] track is hot.
It’s gonna be your hit single...I’m telling you, the Current [radio
station] is gonna be all over that shit,
you wait n’ see.”
Hunting Club’s sophomore
album opens with “Magic Bullet.” The
feel is something like running while you are stoned.
Tracks like “Skyscraper”
exhibit the band’s true talent for uniquely-crafted yet stylistic jams that even
inspire the most talentless of Caucasians to dance. My journalist copy was
initially titled “THC 1,” which I was told did
not refer to the band’s extra-curricular activities[citation needed].
“White Lies” has that
hypnotic or transient, gritty sound that is like tentacles to the senses. The listener
is held and it conjures an image of a benevolent octopus slow dancing with
someone.
There is an omniscient—or
at the very least—arrogant thread to “Hollywood (who cares?).” The
lyrics are a nonchalant series of incongruent polarities:
blind faith black flag
line up get trashed
i know everyone
forwards backwards
The recursive track is
ripe with satire depicting a Hollywood culture enveloped in the superficial. This
commentary reaches the depths of that type of social complacency:
live in magazine
culture and wet dream
you know everyone
inside and outside
The album finishes
strong with the anthem and declaration, “Nothing Lasts Forever” as well as
“More Than Games,” which takes aim at the romantic quest with existential
annotations:
Deep in the sky I’m empty
[...] Dying for your apathy
The chorus grows
incrementally as the song evolves into a remarkable ballad rich with emotional
countenance.
I still can’t understand
any of the words in the final song, “Suburban Bear,” but the fucking title is
awesome!
This idiosyncratic
collection of songs is an exploration of the shallow state of America. Songs
like “Skyscraper” might be hinting at the capitalist ethos in general;
Living well on paper,
Living well on borrowed time
Or maybe I’m
projecting... #studentloans
The album’s musical diversity
is a concoction of jazz, hip hop and indie-rock. Despite the eclectic blend,
the prodigious writing, instrumentation and swagger has left the audience with
a musical composite that is creatively uniform; a "Mosaic."
