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Hey! Hello!
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The original artwork that accompanies the packaging for the album was designed by renowned artist Frank Kozik, a graphic designer who has worked with some of the biggest names in music such as Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots.
Ginger Wildheart (founder of the U.K. Punk outfit The Wildhearts) and Victoria Liedtke of Hey! Hello! have joined forced under the name Hey! Hello! and are about to reveal their self-titled debut album on July 23rd on The End Records.
Though the album is being humbly offered up as a pop punk party album I was pleasantly surprised as the album progressed, moving from a Jesus and Mary Chain-esque guitar distortion sound with a Foxy Shazam vibe to simply going off the charts with a slew of progressive styles that built up as the album moved its way towards the finale.
We’re Outta Here was probably one of my favorites off the album. It quickly reminded me of Douglas Adams and his dolphin migration segment, lyrically. The song itself is a straight chunk of rock and roll, think Handsome Devil, but as the song moves on we’ve got a great chorus, great harmony, and by the end of the track we’ve got a full on orchestra. Just a great track.
Another one of my favorites is How I Survived The Punk Wars, a little message to up and coming musicians about hard work and integrity. “Before you spend a fortune in studio expense rehearsing the fuck out of your guitars makes a lot of sense”. This one hit me hard as I’m a bit of a cynic when it comes to today’s music so this one just made me smile.
The rest of the album is pretty good but the pop sensibilities behind the lyrics and some of the vocal work left me sitting on the fence a few times. No doubt it will grow on me, and the bands punk elements really do carry the album along like a chaotic wave of focused noise, as well the bands sound carrying a familiarity to it without being a complete rip is great. Is it worth checking out. Most defiantly? Will you love it? If you’re like me you’ll find it falling in the pros column more then the cons, and once I’m done critiquing it I have a feeling its just going to be a fun album to listen to on occasion. So yeah, check it out. Make sure to head to their Facebook page to listen to their album opener Black Valentine to get a gist of their sound. Enjoy.
- Review by AJ Garcia
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