Hookworms
The Hum
DOMINO
6/10
It seems like within the last couple of years, England’s city of Leeds is having a musical renaissance with several young bands like Eagulls and alt-J hitting the ground running with raw, unpolished, but unbelievably addictive releases. While Hookworms’s 2013 debut album Pearl Mystic would fall directly into that messy yet infectious category, their brand-new sophomore release takes the British quintet out of that raucous crowd and elevates them, thanks to the shrewd production (Hookworms’ own MJ at the helm) and underlying sonic thread of the LP. With only nine tracks, clocking in at just under forty minutes long, The Hum does exactly that—it hums. There is an almost tangible kinetic energy felt in between the layers of tracks like “On Leaving,” “V,” and “Retreat.” Clanking organ lines, fuzz-drenched guitar walls, and sharply shouted vocals blend together with a sonic frequency and intricacy that allows the listener to dive deeper into the whirr of the album, and the calculated evolution of the band.
