Hotline TNT – ‘Cartwheel’ album review: modern shoegaze that lights a lacklustre fuse
While shoegaze emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the genre is currently enjoying a revival, with Hotline TNT, the brainchild of Will Anderson, one of many bands currently flexing their reverb-heavy muscles.
Yet, on Cartwheel, the band’s second album, Hotline TNT boasts influences that range from classic indie rock and pop to emo, transforming a shoegaze-inspired sound into something considerably more accessible. The fuzzy walls of guitar and blistering drums that define every song are accompanied by structured vocals that carve a discernable sense of stability into each song, holding together Anderson’s musings on heartbreak and hope.
Although the album features plenty of mesmerising, distorted instruments, Cartwheel is let down by Anderson’s grating, uninspired vocals, which do little to embellish the complex layers of sound. Rather, he sometimes whines over his finely-tuned sonic palette as though he doesn’t really want to be there, as if the vocals are secondary to his instrumental endeavours. This is most prevalent in ‘I Know You’, where Anderson repeats an irritating refrain of “Ahh ahh” as though the act of singing is causing him mild discomfort.
On the opening track, ‘Protocol’, Anderson demonstrates his musical prowess – the album is almost entirely executed solely by him – through a series of interesting guitar and synth sounds that instantly captivate. Yet, his flaccid vocals soon chime in, flattening out a potentially memorable track, allowing it to dissipate into a slack piece of filler.
The album continually weaves between strong moments of experimentation, led by punchy drums and reverberating guitars, and dull melodies that you can easily tune out. When Cartwheel is at its best, it boasts emotionally charged instrumentation that communicates Anderson’s explorations of love and the quest for fulfilment, which comes after years of living in different cities, dating different people, and watching the dissolution of his parents’ 30-year marriage.
Tracks such as ‘Out of Town’ and ‘That Was My Life’ are some of the album’s weakest points, with the former sounding – quite simply – a mess. The latter utilises the cliché technique of overlaying a recording of someone talking, ruining what could be a genuinely strong piece of music. However, the album reaches its greater moments on its noisier cuts, like ‘History Channel’, ‘Spot Me’ and ‘BMX’.
It’s a frustrating listen – consistently leaning on the cusp of greatness. Anderson is clearly an immensely talented musician, yet Cartwheel often falters back into safety, relying on consistently similar melodies that give the album a lack of variety. Moreover, Anderson’s weak vocals and lacklustre melodies tend to muddy the soundscapes rather than elevate them to higher levels, subsequently preventing the album from achieving what Anderson is almost certainly capable of creating.
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