Parisian quartet Hoorsees’ debut self-titled album is my new favorite thing at the moment. I don’t really know how to describe their sound exactly – calling it indie rock seems like a cop out – It’s like jangle-pop (minus a little bit of jangle) with a little shoegaze (minus the wall of sound) and add some bedroom pop (with better production) for good measure.
However you want to classify the sound, this is the first can’t miss/don’t miss album of 2021.
Check out “Pitfall” and “Instant Tea” (below) then snag yourself a copy via Howlin’ Banana, In Silico or Kanine. Good luck finding a vinyl copy, if that’s your thing, as they seem to be sold out everywhere. Good for them!
Favorite new song alert! As soon as I heard their new single, “Dream About Me,” I rushed to alert my friend Chet who’s a big fan of Ocean Blue and Prefab Sprout and while he hasn’t reported back yet, I expect to hear that The Depreciation Guild is right up his alley. The band’s sound transports me back to the early nineties, the years Chet and I were in radio together. The band takes the lush, dreamy pop sounds of early 4ad bands and distresses them a bit with fuzzy electronics and gentle reverb. Lots of other folks are taking note as well—they’ve sold out of their new single and Kanine records just reissued their 2007 album. Speaking of friends who’d like this band, I’m surprised our own Clay Calloway didn’t beat me to the punch on this one, especially considering two-thirds of the band also play in The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, one of Clay’s recent crushes he’s gushed about on this site. The moonlighters will be extra busy as both bands head over to play the UK later this month. The band has some Midwest and East Coast dates before then, so if you like what you hear do some homework and catch them live, geography permitting.
Sorry for stepping into my own head a little to describe Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear, but it occurred to me that the pop-ish noise at which they excel is the polar opposite of the explosions you hear coming from