Record Review: Hooray for Earth

by | Jun 1, 2011 | Reviews

Hooray for Earth
True Loves
New York, NY

An industrial box of audible surprises”

Hooray for Earth can create one hell of an electro-pop tune as long as they stay focused. The band’s first full-length, True Loves, occasionally strays into lo-fi fuzz that’s hardly memorable, but those moments only serve to highlight the well-defined tracks. A majority of the songs from True Loves could stand alone to show the distorted ability of the New York-based quartet.

The album is an elegy to the ’80s synth electronic sound, keeping the decade’s droning keyboard loops but adding the industrial edge and echoic vocals of today’s indie scene. Both “Hotels” and “Bring Us Closer Together” are irresistible and implacable into a single decade.

There’s a dubstep sounding bass loop snuck into “Sails,” and the title track features a drum stick percussion line that’s emphasized by the synth effects surounding it. “No Love” brings in a bold brass section before dissolving into a highly distorted, yet singable hook. There’s a shuffling bass beat running throughout the album, almost undetectable but oddly comforting. Hooray for Earth put together tightly wound packages of sound, and multiple listens are necessary to pick apart and appreciate the surprises that the band expertly hides in plain sight. (Dovecote Records)

Recorded and Produced by Noel Heroux // Mixed by Chris Coady // Mastered by Joe Laporta at The Lodge

www.hoorayforearth.net