Take a pinch of sixties garage rock, a whiff of seventies/ eighties psychedelic pop, and a scent of the punk rawness which has spiced any decade you care to mention in some form or other, and you have something akin to the sound of High Tiny Hairs. The new project from former Fuck Knights guitarist and Nightingales front man Ben Bachman, the band is a raw and magnetic tantalising of ears in sound and invention with a potent self-titled debut EP to introduce themselves by. Receiving its UK unveiling this month, the six track encounter almost licks at the imagination with its stirring flavours and mesmeric sonic colours, each song flirting with bright hues around darker lyrical shadows.
Formed by the Minneapolis based Bachman with inspirations of artists like Alex Chilton, Brian Eno, and Syd Barrett spicing his creativity, High Tiny Hairs almost instantly captivates body and thoughts from the EP’s first breath. With Ioana Cristina Mirica, Sergio Hernandez, GD Mills, and Eric Levy alongside Bachman, the band instantly tempts with a web of inviting guitar as opener Chaos Ensues begins to blossom in ears. That alone seems to merge sixties lures with new wave enticement before glowing vocals caress a broadening and increasingly catchy landscape being laid by the song. Its prime hook is like a familiar friend yet defines pinning down whilst the fiery vocals and rosy yet chilled melodies within a sturdy rhythmic and sonic frame, suggests something akin to The Raincoats meets Melody’s Echo Chamber meets Horse Party.
The potent start continues in the rawer brilliance of Ghost Shadow, a song best described as The Electric Prunes in a mesmeric romance with The Sonics and indeed Syd Barrett. With the increasingly tempting charm and flirtation of a Farfisa organ coating and seducing respectively the jagged bones of the song and a swiftly greedy appetite for it, the track is a wonderful unruly smoulder of raw garage bred dream pop and swiftly matched in persuasion by the sultry pop rock of First World Problems. Keys and vocals again tantalise as the jangle of guitars and the ever darkly toned bass both skip over and prowl their companion’s warmly enticing adventures, the result another pleasing escapade for the listener.
Redd Room slips into its sixties seeding with relish from the first second, keys again embracing the pop of that era whilst adding a seventies psych rock smile. Around and within this though, starting with a great opening hook out of the De Staat songbook, the band infuses a weave of matching magnetic styles and sonic resourcefulness. The song does not quite match up to its predecessor but nevertheless has feet and hips swaying with as much contentment as that growing in ears.
The haunting stroll of Night Time Wander steps forward next, again catchy and lively exploits of rhythms and guitar, as well as the fascinating lure of the vocals, embracing and infusing the “sombre and sardonic musings” of Bachman. Feet have no resistance to the song, nor healthy enjoyment before the closing Girl Like U completes the EP. The last song, as Redd Room earlier, is missing that certain something for personal tastes which lit the EP’s other tracks so potently, yet it provides a slice of sixties honed pleasure to broadly smile about whilst finishing off a great introduction to High Tiny Hairs, an EP which in many ways brings the sound of summer across numerous decades into one sultry adventure.
The High Tiny Hairs EP is available on limited edition cassette and digital download via Sir Gregory Records now.
RingMaster 24/08/2015
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