(((O))) : Hookworms – Pearl Mystic

It’s no lie to say we love Hookworms at Echoes & Dust. For the last year or so they have been shocking us with how they are maturing in to what can be described as one of the best UK Psych bands. Since I interviewed them last year they have grown in such stature as a live band that I’ve been itching to see how that will transform on to vinyl and with Pearl Mystic all I can say is WOW. For those who haven’t heard or seen this Leeds 5 piece hold on to your hats because this record is going to make these boys very busy and before the year is out you will not only know them but you will be eulogising about them like a bible basher at your local shopping precinct on a Saturday afternoon.

For those who want a synopsis of what Hookworms sounds like imagine the bastard love child of Perry Farrell fronting some Stooges/The Seeds/Wooden Shjips  with a little touch of the story telling of other Yorkshire luminaires like Pulp.

Pearl Mystic kicks off with a lovely textured drone that has a fine balance of tension building perfectly as ‘Away/Towards’ hits a technicolour crescendo. ‘Form & Function’ which was previously on the Gringo Records split with Kogumaza hits home with a pop sensibility in its harmony backing vocals that you doesn’t normally work in this genre but her its majestically reminiscent of 60s garage R&B bands.

I love the interludes on the record, they counterbalance the wonderful songs and I would be happy with an album of those alone but I am a feedback/drone/reverb whore who can listen to things self-oscillating until the cows come home

‘In Our Time’which has been doing the rounds as a rerelease titbit has a moody swagger of grim back streets and a disaffected jilted lover lamenting his feelings to any passing cat that would care. Sensitive, insular and overt as only can be allowed at one time by his pain will allow.

‘Since we changed’ is a lovely dirge punctuated with tambourine mournfully playing out while the guitars swirl, bass line just pacing us a long until MJ’s lovely vocals transcend to the heavens. More glorious 60s tinges that send shivers down the spine.

Holy Fucking Bo Diddley, what the hell happened there! Shit a brick, ‘Preservation’ is just heart pumping tribal, leg shaking pulsating, machine gun bass lines spraying the crowds in to a frenzy. When the fuzz wah lead kicks in I’m in heaven, pulse racing, strobe lights hitting the back of my mind and flashing into my primal heart.

Then finally, ‘What We Talk About’ is a perfect closure. The harmonies, sparse rhythms, droning organs, slide guitars and slow build until you are putting your arms around your neighbour and swaying along (this nearly got me in to trouble on the 75 bus last night).

Psych has some stirrings in the ether at the moment and these Leeds upstarts are going to cause a few waves when they break through in to the mainstream, dragging their glorious brand of drone/blues/pop/fuzz sanctified music to the masses. So don’t repent your sins if you haven’t got on the bus yet, just enjoy every last bit of fuzzed up goodness.