Madrid lo-fi garage rockers Hinds returned to Nottingham last Wednesday to treat Rescue Rooms to an evening of grooving, infectious tunes from their critically acclaimed debut album Leave Me Alone.
Delivering a pacy set just over an hour in length, their endearing, slacker-rock aesthetics are present immediately – the rest of the group sip their beers, Carlotta Cosials jams the only instrumental track on the album ‘Solar Gap’, whilst Ana García Perrote welcomes the gathered crowd in a thick Spanish accent.
“With so many upbeat, firm favourites available on their formidable debut LP, it’s not hard for Hinds to elicit a warm response from their audiences”
Although a little shaky to begin with, the gig took on a jovial party atmosphere as the group settled into their performance. With so many upbeat, firm favourites available on their formidable debut LP, it’s not hard for Hinds to elicit a warm response from their audiences.
Rattling through the livelier opening tracks from the album, like ‘Fat Calmed Kiddos’, ‘Warts’ and ‘Castigadas En El Granero’, the buzz that continues to surround this group into 2016 appears to be well substantiated by the dancing, cheering revellers of Rescue Rooms.
Hinds’ recent success led to their nomination for the NME Award for Best New Artist – a nomination that Cosials reflects on as bittersweet on Wednesday evening. Expressing their gratitude for being nominated, she also said the band were unlikely to win the award. When this suggestion was met with resounding, collective disagreement from the crowd, Cosials assured them they weren’t going to win, otherwise they would be at the Awards show which was taking place that very evening. Nonetheless, she assured the crowd, that they were glad to be celebrating the evening in Nottingham with their fans instead.
These fans continued to passionately sing-a-long with celebrated singles ‘Chili Town’ and ‘Bamboo’, the latter of which first appeared in 2014. Closing the set with the swinging rock ‘n’ roll swagger of ‘San Diego’, the four-piece returned to finish with an encore performance of ‘Davey Crockett’, a single released last year.
“Overall, Hinds’ live performances are energetic, enthralling, and, crucially, a little rough around the edges”
Overall, Hinds’ live performances are energetic, enthralling, and, crucially, a little rough around the edges. They specialise not in highly polished, nor complexly crafted songwriting, but a passionate commitment to having a laugh and sharing the fun with their followers. They overtly undermine assumptions about women in the music industry – “Pop is about perfection,” they told The Guardian last month, “we’re the opposite.”
This is not to criticise the efforts of women in pop music, per sé, but to indicate that Hinds’ laid-back aesthetics and simplistic slacker rock riffs can be successful, can be relatable, and can serve to inspire others to pick up cheap equipment and just have fun with it. Certainly, the Rescue Rooms on Wednesday night enjoyed the company of Hinds, a band who are only set to move from strength to strength.
James Noble
James is currently listening to ‘FloriDada’ by Animal Collective
Image: Sonic PR
