It is always interesting, having heard just one song by a band to be then presented with a second which not so much changes your opinion of a band but perhaps widens your perspective. One song can only be a snapshot, the broader your listening experience, the increasingly more well-rounded your insight into a band’s sonic world becomes. “Biology” is a track that gives me a much better understanding of the band.
If “Bullet Proof,” my first taste of this London based trio, put me in mind of Crowded House, at least at their most dreamlike and drifting, “Biology” makes me realise that dreamlike and drifting, not to mention anthemic and soaring, is The Hinterland’s more usual sonic modus operandi and when taken together, it is to the more hazy and soaring that they err, rather than the more tightly constructed pop-rock of the aforementioned antipodeans.
We are still in the realm of pop – big, anthemic pop – and having heard the forthcoming EP of the same name, I can tell you that their music effortlessly pushes out into more anthemic rock and even echoes some prog rock creativity, but for now at least “Biology” is pop on a grand scale. And, as I hinted at when talking about their previous single, this is cleverly constructed stuff, mature and sonically pleasing, it is music that you can marvel at as well as dance to.
My initial assessment of the band isn’t wrong, but with more evidence at hand in the form of this second single (not to mention a glimpse of things to come; believe me, you are in for a treat), I realise that The Hinterland are a much more windswept and interesting band than first contact suggested. They make songs that are big and clever, grand and graceful, muscular and melodic, powerful and poignant. And that is a rare and delicious balancing act to pull off.
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