Hood - Home Is Where It Hurts

  by Chris Jones

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Domino Records
Format: 7"

intro

Those of you who have been reading the Pennyblackmusic magazine over the past few months may remember that I wrote a "Favorite Album" article about Hood's 'Cabled Linear Traction' LP. Hood covered a

Those of you who have been reading the Pennyblackmusic magazine over the past few months may remember that I wrote a "Favorite Album" article about Hood's 'Cabled Linear Traction' LP. Hood covered a broad range of styles on their first two LPs - everything from noise filled pop to minimal cinematic soundscapes to drum'n'bass inspired electro pop. A "music for soundtracks" vibe dominated their next two albums and while I liked what they were doing, it was getting a bit too much like background music to me. or maybe I was just getting a bit too familiar with their sound. While the Hood sound is fairly familiar to me, I can't say that the band has much of a following in the US outside of the seemingly dwindling indie crowd. Whereas their first two LPs were released domestically in the US via Slumberland records, the following two albums were import only affairs and more difficult to find - not too mention more expensive. Fortunately, the story gets better at this point. 'Home is Where It Hurts' is the new 5 song EP from Hood and it is available in the US on the Aesthetics record label and in the UK on Domino. Although there are only 5 songs here a fair bit of ground is covered in 25 minutes. The songs tend to combine the soundtrack elements and the mystery pop sounds, making for a more engaging listen than the straight soundtrack sound of the previous two albums. Dub basslines are quite prominent on the EP and when combined with the odd electro noises I was instantly reminded of Pole. While a band "experimenting with dub" is often a sign of too much pot and the beginning of the end, I'd be surprised if that were the case here - they just pull it off too well. And speaking of surprises, I think the biggest surprise of the EP has to be the vocals. In fact, at first I didn't like them at all and it took me awhile to get used to them. The vocals on their previous releases had this sombre, narrative style to them that at times was contrasted with frantic outbursts. When the vocals came in on track one of this EP, I thought they must have hired on a new singer and maybe that singer was from the Apples in Stereo!?! Instead of the sombre narrative, it's almost psyche pop. It wasn't anything I expected to hear at all andI think that's why my initial reaction wasn't completely positive. Fellow Hood fans have told me that they had a similar experience upon first hearing the EP, but we've all been able to get over our surprise and we've been won over by the EP. Plus, the final track has the "old school" Hood vocals to appease us. On this EP, Hood are able to combine their mystery pop and soundtrack sounds with a touch of dub bass and psyche pop vocals in a way that is both familiar and new. These songs don't fall away into the background like some of the songs on their previous two LPs did and that has me excited about the full length album that is due to come out later this year. Word of their first US tour also has me even more excited. I sure hope they remember how to play all those songs from 'Cabled Linear Traction'.…

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