-=- SHGZ -=- * Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal * ARTIST..: Hatchie ALBUM...: Sugar & Spice GENRE...: Indie STYLE...: Indie Pop, Dream Pop YEAR....: 2018 LABEL...: Hostess Entertainment Unlimited ENCODER.: LAME 3.98.4 -V0 BITRATE.: 265 kbps avg QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo SOURCE..: CDEP TRACKS..: 10 SIZE....: 74.40 MB URL..: http://hatchie.net/ - TRACKLIST 1 Sure 4:09 2 Sleep 3:21 3 Sugar & Spice 3:08 4 Try 4:09 5 Bad Guy 4:45 6 Try (Gauci Remix) 4:21 7 Sure (Robin Guthrie Remix) 4:09 8 Sure (Demo) 4:20 9 Sugar & Spice (Demo) 3:03 10 Bad Guy (Demo) 3:38 Total Playtime: 39:03 24-year-old Brisbaner Harriette Pilbeam has been described as something of a modest ⌠runaway success÷ since the release of debut track µTry╞ in May last year. The swirling pop number began circulating almost immediately on Triple J Radio in her native Australia - and now, nearly a year later, Hatchie╞s first full EP µSugar & Spice╞ is signposting her way to the international stage. µSugar & Spice╞ cements her as the modern day successor to dream pop titans Cocteau Twins from the get-go. Robin Guthrie had already blessed her with a remix of µTry╞ in 2017, but his influence shines through even more with the opening bars of µSure╞, as shimmering guitars wash through in layers. µSleep╞ is a climactic follow-up built around shuffling beats and heroic choruses, with a smoky hook that recalls Depeche Mode╞s µ80╞s classic µJust Can╞t Get Enough╞. Later, the title track╞s shoegazey guitars closely mimic the iconic, ethereal sound of My Bloody Valentine. Harriette doesn╞t possess the unique, wobbly vocal style of Elizabeth Fraser, instead opting for pure, uplifting pop hooks (it╞s telling, then, that she counts Kylie Minogue among her influences). It comes naturally to her - ⌠all my songs start with singing,÷ she says - which makes sense given the vocal strengths present across these five tracks. With a finessed production tying everything together, the end result is pretty ecstatic. * Shoegazey dream pop. Jangly chillwave. Hazy but poppy. No single modifier can describe the sound of Hatchie's debut EP, Sugar & Spice. Even the title suggests a combination of flavors. A native of Brisbane, Australia, Hatchie (born Harriette Pilbeam) grew up on a steady diet of Kylie Minogue and My Bloody Valentine, two disparate sensibilities that find a home in her music. Just five quick tracks that go by too fast, Sugar & Spice is a welcome treat. "Try" is gleaming, blissful summer jam that deservedly exploded online last year. "Sure" is a layered, heady blast of jangle pop. The title track is an upbeat meditation on a bad relationship, and all three compete for the best hook on the EP. Throughout, Sugar & Spice shimmers with the glitz of Brisvegas and the energy of an artist who refuses to be defined. * It's hard to believe Harriett Pillbeam was sitting on most of the songs that make up her debut EP for several years. So sticky-sweet are the melodies on each of these five tracks, you'd swear they were the product of some dream-pop songwriting algorithm rather than the bedroom musings of an Australian musician suffering through typical mid-20s professional and romantic ennui. Pillbeam had honed her musical chops in a number of bands, including Babaganouj and Go Violets, both of whom similarly mined '90s alt-rock niches, updating them for the 21st century. Yet neither properly captured Pillbeam's true voice. Hatchie, however, does. You can tick off a number of dream-pop heavyweights as influences here: Lush and Cocteau Twins, whose Robin Guthrie remixed "Sure," immediately come to mind. But Pillbeam makes the sound her own, putting heavy emphasis on the pop side of things via a brilliant synth sheen. Yet it's her ability to wring emotional drama out of rote subject matter that makes these songs so special. "Try," the first song she snuck onto the internet, remains the highlight ∙ an instrumental bit that precedes the second chorus is worth the price of admission alone. But the remaining songs certainly match its effortless charm. On "Sure" the singer-bass player is feeling powerless as a relationship dissolves before her eyes, her sense of helplessness underscored by the unfinished thought "And if it's never really overα" that punctuates the chorus. Closer "Bad Guy" though is the sleeper pick. Musically it recalls late '80s Cure, but its lyrics, which follows a protagonist who pushes the object of their affection for a deeper commitment only to have them pull away, looks at the scene from dual perspectives, asking who the bad guy was in this situation when both parties were try to their feelings. The lyrics and their delivery feel ripped straight from the Taylor Swift songbook; the song itself could easily fit onto either of the pop stars last two albums. Does Pillbeam have more gems sitting on a hard drive somewhere? Can she match the high bar set by these early compositions with the public eye now set firmly on her? Time will tell, but at least this once, she managed to capture lightning in a bottle. -=- SHGZ -=- P.S. ** Thanks *** *** BCC FNT IPC SSR *** *** For Knowing Where The Music Is At *** *** Props to CaHeSo, awesome Asian Indie/Shoegaze *** *** And to FANG/HOUND for supporting all the Indie lovers out there *** --===-- ********************* * NuHS we miss you! * *********************