Dutch duo The Hobknobs revel in simplicity on ‘Easier Listening’
Even though the majority of simple songs seem to have been written many years ago, leaving future generations with little room to explore such straightforward ideas, the Netherlands duo The Hobknobs appear to be showing that you still don’t have to bow down to the demand for increased complexity.
The lead single from their forthcoming debut album, ‘Easier Listening’, is two-and-a-half minutes of back-to-basics indie pop that evokes the saccharine singsong melodies of Belle and Sebastian, as well as the naively plaintive songcraft of The Vaselines, eschewing all need for embellishments as though they’d provide unnecessary complications to the song.
Consisting of two members from much-loved Dutch outfits The Klittens and Lewsberg, the pair of Yaël Dekker and Arie Van Vliet rely on simple chord progressions that prove that any more than five chords would be superfluous clutter. Any more chords than the ones used in the song, and it isn’t as likely to wedge itself in the brain after just a couple of listens, yet ‘Easier Listening’ manages this with aplomb.
The stripped-back arrangements of guitar, bass and the steadfast click of a rimshot being used as the only percussion means that the vocal interplay of both members is brought into the forefront, and while this might prove to be a little barren to some listeners, the spaces left by their sonic minimalism shouldn’t be seen as a deficiency, but as more of a necessary way of getting the immediacy of the song across.
Both members have a history of making songs of this ilk: during his time fronting Lewsberg, Van Vliet’s half-sung, half-muttered vocals were one of the most charming aspects of the band’s output, while Dekker’s work with The Klittens has something of a looseness to it that unfolds in magical ways.
While there was no surefire way to establish whether these two minds would work together, it seemed inevitable that there would be some degree of overlap between their respective styles, and given the nature of the Netherlands’ rapidly-expanding yet interconnected indie scene, a meeting of these long-respected staples of the circuit may well have been something those more closely linked to the scene would have predicted to be effortlessly brilliant.
Unlike compatriots Long Fling, whose sole self-titled album was created as a result of a decade’s worth of close connection between Pip Blom and Personal Trainer’s Willem Smit, what The Hobknobs have carved out together feels more spontaneous and based on instinct. If a song feels like a rough idea, there is no need to tinker incessantly with it, and only the smallest amount of additional detail needs to be added to make it function as a complete song.
If ‘Easier Listening’ is a sign of what’s to come on their forthcoming debut, Helmets Off – that is to say, a further realisation of how well-suited Dekker and Van Vliet are creatively – then this collaboration could well end up being the delightfully relaxed antidote to the often feverish approach of many modern Dutch indie acts.
The clue, of course, is in the name – listening really doesn’t get much easier than this.
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