Hinds – ‘VIVA HINDS’ album review: Better, bigger and bolder
THE SKINNY: It has been years since Hinds last released an album, and a lot has happened. After the release of The Prettiest Curse in 2021, the band essentially collapsed. Ongoing lockdowns meant that the album couldn’t really be promoted or toured, original members Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen left the group, and Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote were left to pick up the pieces. As the years went on, it seemed to become clear that there was really only one thing to do: start from scratch.
So the story of their new album, VIVA HINDS, feels beautifully reflective of the story of the band itself, which is essentially a story of friendship. The group began when Cosials and Perrote fell into the same friendship group amid the Madrid music scene. Finding a partner in crime in the form of another music-obsessed woman keen to form a band, their closeness has forever been the ground the group is built on. When the other members left, this new project returns to that foundation and starts construction again, resulting in an end product that’s bigger, better and far more polished than anything they’ve made before.
It’s only with the kind of trust that Cosials and Perrote have in one another that an album like this can be made. It captures the perfect balance that long-term friendships require and creative partnerships truly thrive with. Throughout, the lyrics buzz with the spontaneity and humour that has always coloured the band’s work, undeniably pulled from the fun the two friends have crafting these songs as they allow them to exist in their own bubble. But there is also an on-going sense of challenge that is especially clear on this new album. The instrumentals across tracks like ‘The Bed, The Room, The Rain and You’ and ‘Bon Voyage’ feel like a product of that trust, encouraging them to fall, taking more risks that pay off.
But mostly, VIVA HINDS sees the two friends focus. Perhaps after things came crashing down in 2021, there was a moment where they looked at each other, after years of trying to get this band working, and thought ‘this is the last chance’. Maybe that collapse lit a fire in their belly because, on this new album, they’re raring to go. There is no fucking about; the band are out to make anthems. ‘Boom Boom Back’ is huge and hooky, set into high gear with Beck’s presence. ‘Stranger’ calls upon Grian Chatten as Hinds and Fontaines D.C are both on a mission to graduate from cult indie risers to bonafide stars. Even ‘Superstar’, a softer cut, is sharp and powerful in its emotions.
It’s clear that on this new album, Hinds are giving it their all. It’s like you can feel Cosials and Perrote hold hands and run, not letting anything or anyone hold them back as they take all the chances, level up their sound, follow all ideas through to the biggest and most thorough endpoint and yet still deliver it all with the fun energy they’ve always been beloved for. The next step is to augment that buzz with depth.
For fans of: Partying in the living room with the one best friend who knows everything about you.
A concluding comment from my own best friend: If only we’d started a band back in the 2010s.
VIVA HINDS Track by track
Release date: 6th September 2024 | Producer: Pete Robertson | Label: Lucky Number
‘Hi, How Are You’: Hinds welcome listeners into the world of their new album with a hefty dose of angst. After a lengthy gap and a complete rearrangement of their lineup and identity, this opening number sees them strip back to rock basics and rebuild. [3/5]
‘The Bed, The Room, The Rain and You’: But once those basics are established again, the world built on top of it is instantly vast, cinematic and bigger than anything they’ve made before. This track is a skyscraper amidst it, sparkling with 1980s anthemic spirit meeting classic 2010s indie energy. [4/5]
‘Boom Boom Back’ Ft. Beck: Hinds aren’t fucking about on this album; they’re out to make hits. ‘Boom Boom Back’ is one of them, featuring an instrumental so infectious it has been stuck in my head ever since it was released back in May. [4/5]
‘Stranger’ Ft. Grian Chatten: As part of their return to form, Hinds reunite with the friends they’ve made along the way. Despite coming from two very different musical backgrounds, the Spanish band and the Irish rockers Fontaines D.C were climbing the up-and-comers ladder together. This collaboration with Chatten is a beautiful nod to that which needs little more than its simple indie build to be excellent when you have this talent on the track. [4/5]
‘Superstar’: “One tune to the people I thought I knew,” the band begin softly. It’s a line that holds a lot of weight in this tender yet powerful consideration of fame, relationships and how one poisons the other when in the hands of the wrong people. As the track builds, it feels like Hinds are grabbing their strength back and reminding themselves of it along the way. [4/5]
‘Male Vista’: Despite being a Spanish troupe that came up in the Madrid scene, this album marks the first time Hinds have shared songs fully sung in Spanish. While not quite as hooking to ears that can’t connect with the lyricism in another tongue, it’s a nice move to see the band put their culture front and centre. [3/5]
‘On My Own’: This track is the closest the band gets to their earliest singles. Containing the kind of spontaneous energy that coloured tracks like ‘Bamboo’ or ‘Chili Town’, it’s clear the spirit of the group is still intact. [2.5/5]
‘Coffee’: As the first single released for this new era when the band returned after a lengthy silence, ‘Coffee’ made it clear exactly what this chapter would sound like: foolproof indie instrumentals and anthemic aims but with lyrics dripping in humour. [3/5]
‘En Forma’: Another fully-Spanish track. But the story of ‘En Forma’ feels special and important for this chapter of the band. Written after a breakup, the track is an outpouring that came too quickly to be translated. Spiralling around a huge host of topics, it reflects the kind of winding conversations Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote and women around the world have, casually navigating mass subjects over a casual drink, putting everything to rights again. [3/5]
‘Bon Voyage’: If the opening track was building from the ground up, the closing number is a helicopter ride looking over the vastness of what they made. As an adventurous and polished instrumental, it’s proof of the development this new chapter has brought about. [3/5]
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.