"take a look outside and see the world's on fire now...."
"Reset" by London alt rock outfit HYMNS is call to arms, sword or pen or maybe both. The vast post punk tones feel as nostalgic as the themes that run throughout the track, sad to say. The world seems to be in a constant period of flux, on fire as HYMNS calls out while we are fed the opiates of the masses. We revel in driverless cars and the latest IPhone while passing hordes of homeless people, ignoring them while gleefully taking selfies on our new aforementioned phone.
Front man, Oliver Hooper: “Written in a time of great political and social unrest, people continue to celebrate and prioritise capital gain and empty technological breakthroughs (colonizing Mars, etc) at the expense of humanity and our 'own' planet earth. The song is a call to arms for change before it's too late.”
Hooper has a vocal aesthetic that recalls proto punk and punk acts while the overall tone with Hooper (lead vocals & guitar), Giorgio Compagnone (bass guitar & keys), Amy Chapman (drums & backing vocals) and Filippo Ferazzoli (guitar), on their 4 track EP "Reset", suggest a blend of post rock, metal, industrial, post punk, Goth pop and art rock as they are informed by bands like Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails while dipping in iconic dashes of atmospheric askew sounds like bits of Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western soundtracks.
"Reset" as the EP title and title track conjures up a notion of restarting the computer to fix a problem. As I revel in Hooper's vocal aesthetic, strident and artful, I flashed on Stan Ridgeway from Wall of Voodoo and of Peter Garrett, lead singer / front man of Midnight Oil. Garrett was singing about activism and deep change in 1987. 34 years later and the world is still so fucked up. It feels like our normalcy. Here's to artists who still shout about it. Art and music is at the forefront of movements, it always has been.
-Robb Donker Curtius
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HYMNS is an alternative rock band formed in London in 2016. The line up consists of Oliver Hooper on vocals and guitar, Giorgio Compagnone on bass guitar and backing vocals, Matthew Ash on guitar and Amy Chapman on drums.
Drawing heavily from the post punk genre, HYMNS create epic and ethereal songs that enlighten and uplift. Baritone vocals combined with hooky guitar riffs provide the foundation for music with melody and honesty at its heart.
After a steady period of playing live since their debut EP last year, the band have just dropped their second release entitled End Song. HYMNS have had a busy Summer with recent highlights including a slot at Camden Rocks festival.
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