-=- SHGZ -=- * Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal * ARTIST..: Hater ALBUM...: Siesta GENRE...: Indie STYLE...: Indie Pop, Jangle Pop YEAR....: 2018 LABEL...: Fire Records COUNTRY.: Sweden PLACE...: Malmö, Skåne län FORMED..: 2018 VOCALS..: English ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0 BITRATE.: 251 kbps avg QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo SOURCE..: CD TRACKS..: 14 SIZE....: 103.65 MB URL..: https://www.facebook.com/haterrmusic https://hatermalmo.bandcamp.com/album/siesta https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/hater/siesta-1 https://therevue.ca/2018/10/01/hater-siesta https://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2018/09/27/hater-siesta-fire-records https://www.clashmusic.com/news/haters-siesta-is-shaping-up-to-be-pretty-special https://www.metacritic.com/music/siesta/hater https://www.plattentests.de/rezi.php?show=15435 (German Review) https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/117902-hater-siesta.php https://www.firerecords.com/product/hater-siesta - TRACKLIST 1 From The Bottom Of Your Heart 3:11 2 It's So Easy 4:55 3 I Wish I Gave You More Time Because I 4:29 Love You 4 Closer 4:22 5 Fall Off 4:13 6 I Sure Want To 1:22 7 Things To Keep Up With 4:25 8 Your Head Your Mind 4:01 9 Why It Works Out Fine 4:55 10 The Mornings 4:29 11 Cut Me Loose 4:55 12 All That Your Dreams Taught Me 3:41 13 Seems So Hard 4:42 14 Weekend 3:27 Total Playtime: 57:07 Uncut - This Swedish quartet's second album often recalls a mid-90s Matador Records release. [Dec 2018, p.25] * There s more going on in Siesta than just gentle moods. Hater flips somethings up throughout the record, the 90s vibes being only one of the examples. Things To Keep Up With delivers darker, moodier melodies and a more somber instrumental, while Your Head Your Mind is full of subtleties that makes the track intricate under its minimalist surface. The warm drive of The Mornings keeps the album refreshing towards the end, before final track Weekend ends the record off on a sweet end. Hate offers a calming atmosphere in Siesta to keep their minds in check. Siesta is a calming record but it does have its darker undertones, but the sound ensures that if you re going through a similar scenario, you can always just keep calm. * Resolute in their sound, Siesta is the perfect soundtrack for that summer romance and the inevitable break up. Heartbreak has never sounded so sweet! Hater s powerful vulnerability and charm has seen them rise quickly through the ranks earning kudos from NPR (Austin 100), Stereogum (Best New Bands Of 2017), The Fader, BBC6 Music, BBC Radio 1 and more. Sprawling guitars chime whilst slow burning grooves and classic rock rhythms allow tender-hearted vocals to soar over intelligible dream pop. Effortless and assured, the Scandi quartet drift eloquently into well-structured and stunning melodies. Produced by Joakim Lindberg (Yast and Hey Elbow) at Studio Sickan within old railway sheds outside of Malm Sweden. Hater tackle their personal experiences of life, love and relationships yet through their shared songwriting there's a togetherness. Synth pop earworm It s So Easy contrasts the slower paced 'I Wish I Gave You More Time Because I Love You' that blends beautiful sweeping sax from Inge Petersson Lindb ck. The haunting metronomic beat of I Sure Want To calls to mind local residents Death And Vanilla, Hollywood glamour exudes on shimmering 'Things To Keep Up With' and 'Cut Me Loose' captures those long youthful days of summers gone by.. "Wouldn't it be fun? Noon is halfway and I feel gone". Hater boast Marr-esque guitars and vocals reminiscent of fellow Swedes and The Concretes (Norman Records) whilst having the pop sensibilities of The Chills, Alvvays, Snail Mail and Makthaverskan. In early 2017 Hater released their debut album You Tried blending jangle with grit, their recent EP Red Blinders (Fire Records) soon followed in support of their first headline tour across Europe. Festivals in 2018 have already included SXSW, Eurosonic and Ment. * To put it plainly, Hater know their audience. The Swedish dream pop band haven't had much of a moment to breathe in a few years, releasing You Tried only last year, then quickly signing with Fire Records and recording the Red Blinders EP. Now, already, arrives their debut proper for the label, Siesta. Their work here may not seek to surprise you, but it's ability to comfort and affirm are not to be understated. * Taking an unplanned month off from writing album reviews was certainly not a good thing in terms of keeping up with the avalanche of new releases from this September. Hence, with apologies - or perhaps with some relief - to those more used to this writer's wafflier critiques here below is a global-trotting sift through a month's worth of things pulled from the towering reviews pile. Thalia Zedek Band - Fighting Season (Thrill Jockey) Thalia Zedek Band - Fighting Season Now contently alternating LPs between her solo ensemble and art-rock trio E, Boston veteran Thalia Zedek unveils a fresh platter with the former, soon after the latter's Negative Work album from earlier this year. * - Hater celebrate dream pop's past and future with the wary hope of Siesta - In short, Siesta is here to entertain. This is one for blue days that won t make you feel all the more blue. Somehow it manages to project both a distant sadness and cling to hope and happiness. To put it plainly, Hater know their audience. The Swedish dream pop band haven t had much of a moment to breathe in a few years, self-releasing You Tried only last year, then quickly signing with Fire Records and recording Red Blinders EP. Now, already, arrives their debut proper for the label, Siesta. Their work here may not seek to surprise you, but it s ability to comfort and affirm are not to be understated. Whereas far too many dream pop projects lose themselves in a quest for perfection, mired in extravagance and an obsession with, yes, being a bit too showy, Hater are simply here to celebrate. Siesta celebrates the genre, its fans, and, above all, its past and future. At no point will Siesta sound either too well-trodden or overly adventurous. The latter remark may sound a slight in most cases, but here, it serves their gentle, comfortable sound perfectly. I Wish I Give You More Time Because drifts almost like a lullaby through a charmingly chilly soundscape. * This isn t to say Siesta is without bite. It s So Easy offers more than a bit of righteous jealousy with its wistful chorus, repeating, It s so easy when it all comes to you, to some unknown lucky son-of-a-bitch. We ve all been there, and the feeling is infectiously palpable. Singer Caroline Landahl shares the vocal duties on Closer , with saddened, distant male vocals reaffirming her strength as she goes through one of the album s catchiest vocal melodies. Her singing isn t without flaws; desperation doesn t suit her particularly well, and while it s easy to understand what she was going for with the more guttural pain displayed on Why It Works Out Fine , it isn t particularly pleasant to listen to. Nonetheless, this minor misstep aside, the album is remarkably consistent and compact. In short, Siesta is here to entertain, but even more, hoping to make you feel better. This is one for blue days that won t make you feel all the more blue. Somehow it manages to project both a distant sadness and cling to hope and happiness.It s quite the undertaking for a rather understated dream pop album. Hater may not give off the showmanship of their older, flashier siblings, but they aren t trying to. They re content to bring it to us softly, and trust their listener to find the massive reservoir of feeling lurking just behind their undemanding, friendly songwriting. Siesta may be a celebration, but it keeps it low key. You ll find yourself refreshed, minus the clean up. It s a salve for a tiring year. What more could we really ask for in 2018? * The Swedish indie pop band Hater hadn't been together long by the time they released their second album Siesta -- only a couple of years -- but they exhibited a mastery of the form that most bands never achieve no matter how long they are together. Here, they've moved a step or two beyond the already classic pop sounds of their debut album, You Tried, and the jangling goodness of their 2017 EP, Red Blinders, to create a powerfully emotional and richly textured listening experience. The band and producer Joakim Lindberg take care at every step to avoid indie clich s and invest every note played or sung with some kind of deeper meaning or feeling. Vocalist Caroline Landahl is the focal point and her achingly honest singing cuts straight to the heart of each melancholy lyric or lilting melody to deliver a gut punch. She doesn't swing like a heavyweight, but her tender blows land with a heavy impact just the same. Around her, the band construct a sound that can be starkly minimal or layered like a girl group song depending on the mood. It can switch quickly within a song, too, which leads to some thrilling moments of release like when the chorus of "Closer" explodes into shards of guitar noise and dueling vocals. The album is split between jangling, noisy uptempo tracks that call to mind memories of the Concretes' best moments and almost painfully tender songs that lay Landahl's emotions bare and allow the band to use the subtle colors in the paint box. Unlike a lot of albums where one style is the clear winner, Hater are equally adept at each. They imbue the louder, more active songs like "It's So Easy" and "Cut Me Loose" with energy to spare, but also a large dollop of sadness to keep anyone from having too much fun. The slow songs never drag or wallow, the band make sure to inject a synth part here or a shuddering bassline there to help jolt songs like the arctic "I Sure Want To" or the peacefully meandering "The Mornings" out of their narcotic trance. The band always employs just the right touch in the arrangements and the songs benefit greatly from their expert skills. Siesta isn't the work of twee strummers or a band who heard Belle and Sebastian and wanted to have a go; these are serious musicians, great songwriters and subtle arrangers, and they've made a classic pop record that deserves play by anyone who recognizes that songs don't need to make the most noise or be the shiniest new thing to have an impact in the emotional life of the listener. Sometimes gentle and calm gets the job done, and that is definitely the case here. * Similarly fresh-faced but hailing from Malm in Sweden, Hater deliver their second album in the shape of the almost-double-length Siesta. So, whereas last year s Red Blinders EP made virtues of its dream-pop brevity, this longer-form set allows the foursome, led by the alluring tones of Caroline Landahl, to lay out a more ambitious smorgasbord-like affair. Certainly, there s an encouraging upping the ante effect at play which gives the album its stronger moments. This steers us to the ethereal radiance of From The Bottom Of Your Heart , the utterly gorgeous Luna-meets-Alvvays glide of It s So Easy , the yearning saxophone-adorned I Wish I Gave You More Time Because I Love You , the elegiac synth-saturated enigmas of I Sure Want To , the fuzz-pedalled throb of Things To Keep Up With and the strung-out celestial Seems So Hard . However, there is a noticeable but not calamitous chunk of Siesta that doesn t go enough distance to really justify the extended running time of its fourteen tracks, with ponderous cuts such as Your Head Your Mind , Why It Works Out Fine and Closer being too reliant on meandering jangling. Consequently, this is a clear case where a little less could arguably have meant something more. That said, fans of amorphous Scandi art-pop will still find much to enjoy here. -=- SHGZ -=- -=-=-==-=-=- Dream Pop is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as reverb, echo, tremolo, and chorus. It often overlaps with the related genre of shoegaze, and the two genre terms have at times been used interchangeably. ---==--==---