Making a record for the first time in eight years is always a difficult task. In the case of Hot Water Music, the question ‘would they ever make a record together again?’ was never really on the cards, at least in hindsight. It was always a question of ‘when’ and not ‘if’. Lead singer Chuck Ragan embarked on a solo career in 2007, a year after his main project disbanded, and even though HWM reunited in 2008, Ragan remained focused on his solo career; an album, ‘Covering Ground’ was released as recently as last year.
Relatively speaking, then, once the wheels started turning, ‘Exister’ came together surprisingly quickly, though we’ll never know what sort of album would have earned the title of the band’s eighth studio full-length if Ragan hadn’t embarked on that solo jaunt, broadened his horizons a good deal, and had plenty of ideas to bring to the table once the Gainsville, FL quartet got down to brass tacks and started writing the record. The result, best exemplified by its powerful title track, is an album that sounds like they never really went away. That may sound like a criticism to some, but ‘Exister’ retains all the elements of classic HWM, while bringing new dynamics into play.
The progression from ‘The New What’s Next’ comes across as subtle on initial listens; the most obvious example of the new album being a step forward is that the band have become more musically adventurous, certainly in regards to technique: for instance, there’s some time-signature trickery on the strutting second track ‘Boy, You’re Gonna Hurt Someone’, which does an excellent job of following the jaw-droppingly direct (and appropriately-named) opener ‘Mainline’, and some of the new songs experiment with song structure, as a whole album sticking to the verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus-final-chorus formula that most bands of this ilk follow, no matter how good, would get stale quickly.
Impressively enough, ‘Exister’ avoids falling into the trap of most reunion albums; it is remarkably consistent, and once again, in that respect, it is in keeping with their previous output. As the album moves into the home stretch, it really hits its stride in the most unexpected of ways. ‘Take No Prisoners’ through to the declamatory album closer ‘Paid in Full’ is a five-song run the band, newly invigorated after not sharing the same recording space with each other for years, should be proud of. In more ways than one, Hot Water Music are back, and their new album more than justifies their re-emergence, and ‘Exister’ hints at there being an exciting ride ahead for the band.
Exister is out now via Rise Records and is streaming in full at SPIN.
Posted by Gareth O’Malley
