The debut album that features the three tracks on the recent EP, so forgive me if the review for these remains the same as before.
The album begins with the traditional set opener "Dr Who", a track in which the band use the familiar TV theme as a template on top of which vocalist Ryan Petrie puts his immediate stamp on the album with that solid, vocal that starts slowly and soon builds to a melodic intensity as the band play the song somewhere between the original "Dr Who" theme and Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days". Turned up, it's got every bit of the power as the live rendition and, kept economical, works a treat.
For "Breadandmilkson", the first things you hear are the high-register spiralling lead guitar figure, solid throbbing bass and lurching drums, before Ryan Petrie enters with a vocal that has all the smouldering passion of Jim Morrison as it wraps its tones around a song that oozes blackness and yet burns with an impassioned emotion, eventually erupting but never letting go, as the whole thing piles on the pressure, allowing a lead guitar to break the spell as Calum Cummins soars above the slowly encroaching rhythm section, the song returning amid a hail of psychedelic swirling guitar, as the emotive vocals take you to the end.
The title track veritably drives ahead in flying fashion as the vocal first smoulders, then catches fire as this soaring burst of high-register guitar swirls high above, the band taking a powerful path as the drums erupt and the vocals charge. An abrupt change of pace mid-song, takes the song into a sort of indie-rock-reggae territory, Petrie's vocals becoming almost powerfully jazzy as they howl and squall the song to a new level of intensity, the band twisiting and turning to the end.
"Instant Whey" starts life as an emotive ballad but quickly settles into a sort of psychedelic Doors twerritory amid this whirlpool of swirling fuzz guitars and impassioned vocals, before abruptly dropping back to the even more impassiond vocals and jangly guitar leads, until the bass starts to climb, the drums crash in, the guitar catches fire and the vocals climb out of orbit. Just sensational.
"Absolute Dani" is the first real "anthem" on the album, but very much The Hoffs version of an anthem as the song constantly builds, drops, builds again and intensifies, a trademark of the band's arrangements, and one here that seems to fly, circle overhead, dive down to soar inches above your head only to fly majestically back to the skies. The guitar work here is treat with some surging lead guitar work on display and a fine chance for Callum to show his guitar prowess, as the rhythm section clatters and crashes down below.
"Cocooned" is a dazzzling exercise in musical hypnotism as the main theme and sea of riffs and rhythms soars around and around to absolute perfection, the vocals slighlty echoed as it all flies around and around, commanding your attention and keeping you hooked on this fascinating slice of psychedelic indie-rock from which you are unable to escape the mesmerising qualities of its glorious arrangement. The vocals powerfully croon and soar above that whirlpool of guitar, bass and drums, the whole thing intense and yet so utterly enjoyable, for me, one of the best tracks on what is already a great album.
"Synaesthesia" opens with guitar work that is initially more restrained before sailing upwards and adding strength to its depth, the lilting rhythm section an underlying foundation as the bass slowly circles overhead and the stirring, impassioned vocals deliver the song with feeling and a kind of bleak sensibility, yet one that hooks you into its world with ruthless efficiency. You can feel the song and band building as the slowly propulsive magic drives slowly forward, those raw vocals possessing emotional depth as the song really starts to fly, that pace becoming more urgent, the spell totally magical and the song providing adensity that eventually crashes into a supernova of electrifying guitar leads above cyclical bass before dropping down to provide the crashing-to-the-ground finale - utterly superb.
"The World Keeps Spinning" is really a real ballad at heart, but even here the band can't resist making it all sound so dense and intense as the vocals deliver the song with an emotive power as the band cruise forcefully along,threatening to erupt, but never actually breaking out, the whole thing possessing an anguish that's nerve-jangling, in many ways the "anti-ballad" but it works.
"The Heretic", a long-time stage favourite and traditional set-closer for the band, revolves around a high-flying lead sax as the band conjure a faster paced muscle, while Petrie delivers another dark and atmospheric yet, this time, more optimistic, vocal performance, on a song that takes psychedelic indie-rock into a whole new dimension, the sax right at the forefront as guitr and drums provide the backup an drive, while the vocal veer between emotion and intensity, eventually flying alongside the band to inspirational effect as the song powers to its final swagger.
Finally, "Brain On Drugs" completes the process - a fast-paced surging tidal wave of a track where the vocals are urgent as the guitar weaves this searing riff that gets right inside your head and refuses to let go, the bass pounding out a pumelling undercurrent, a the drums crash through, drive ahead and the vocals enter and leave along the way. As an explosive trip it's a stunning way to end the album, the band almost imploding on itself, as the final burst of Doors-like vocals leaves you in awe.
Overall, like the EP, hot stuff, better than I expected from a band who've had a checquered existence up to now, have decidedly turned a corner of positivity and produced a debut album that's both unique and accessible, something many other bands in the UK would give their right arms to produce.