"I've got no money / all sent to me / but I want to go / let's take a while / and it's got me thinking / the city / are you gonna show?"
The artfully abrasive / emotionally curated power of "Turn Away", by Irish alt rock shoegaze quintet The Altered Hours, is so magnetically potent, feeling at once, alt rock indie current and nostalgic at the same time. The pulse pounding dreamy crush (for whatever reason) has me feeling an amalgam of old school punk, alt rock and sophisticated indie rock, maybe because it is incredibly raucous yet has shades of art punk romance sprinkled throughout, like a blend of Buzzcocks / Fontaines D.C. / Yo La Tengo. Not only that, I am a sucker for indie bands that have boy / girl vox like The Dead Weather, Yo La Tengo, Pixies, Los Campesinos!, just to name a few. I also love Cathal MacGabhann's vocal countenance that has softer inflections counterpoised against the musical heaviness with Elaine Howley's voice feeling equally interesting, sort of twee to me. In this regard, their non screamy vox feel sort of Sonic Youth to me. However you want to describe it, it works tremendously well.
About "Turn Away" (Liner Notes- excerpted / bracketed):
Written in a flash of inspired imagery, “Turn Away” pairs radiant guitar textures with lyrical vulnerability and cinematic flair.
“I had this movie-like scene in my head,” says Cathal. “Someone’s waiting on a low-lit city street for a date to arrive. And all these doubts, hopes, and flickering thoughts pass through them while they wait. We co-wrote the lyrics in one sitting based on that image and the full idea flowered really quickly.”
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://soundcloud.com/alteredhours
https://www.youtube.com/user/thealteredhours
https://www.instagram.com/the_altered_hours/
https://www.facebook.com/thealteredhours
The Altered Hours are a 5 piece alt-rock group from Cork, Ireland. Their third studio album is set for release on November 7th 2025.
No comments:
Post a Comment