Review: Hinds, The Fleece

New Yorkers Public Access T.V dish up some pretty solid rock’n’roll. There’s nothing groundbreaking in their set, but everything’s tight-as; driving basslines, hooky guitar riffs and some decent melodies rolling around. Their style may be a little predictable and ever so slightly derivative, but they certainly had the sold out Fleece crowd bobbing along convincingly. If they haven’t already been slapped with a ‘New Favourite Band’ badge by Steve Lamacq, these denim-clad skinny white kids soon will be.

And then for the main act. Hinds (originally named Deers) slink through the crowd and ease onstage to a soundtrack of Hot Chocolate’s You Sexy Thing.  And, yes, they are four sexy things.   Having played two Bristol gigs in as many weeks (the last as part of the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival), the Madrid four-piece have seemingly not tired of the place.  Their celebratory set consists of super short, super sweet power numbers of indiscernible lyrics, lo-fi production and surf guitar, held loosely together by all-pervasive melody and harmonies.  I swear, if The Ramones and The Ronettes had ever got it on, their baby would sound like Hinds – a glorious garagey, punky, souly baby.

Their songs are never long enough for you to bore of them; a simple and effective trick that works well against their ramshackle delivery.  They kick off with the rowdy, distorted Warning With The Curling, reminiscent of the C86 bands of the mid-80’s and the crowd is totally on board.  Next up is Trippy Gum, which (as with most of their songs) is a tempo teasing, lo-fi mash-up of raucous high energy garage and slow, heady Balearic – how that’s even possible, I’m still not quite sure. The set moves swiftly and they churn out Fat Calmed Kiddos, Warts and Between Cans with typical charm – the latter a vigorous rendition, ensuring the vocalists get a massive workout.

From there, the scrunchie-clad four-piece unleash a stack of riotous tunes that female-driven post-punksters such as The Slits and The Raincoats would have been proud of.  And those bands would certainly have forgiven the missed notes, or the mis-struck chords (such as on Chili Town), because Hinds’ allure is not in their skilled musicianship, but in their magnetism and vitality.  Which they deliver by the freight-load. Radio favourites Bamboo and San Diego are lapped up by the delighted fans; San Diego being utterly joyous and clearly a favourite of band and audience alike. They finish up with Garden and Castigadas en el Granero with an adolescent dynamism that makes me feel terribly old.  But it’s invigorating.  After the briefest of pauses (just enough to guarantee the audience a certain amount of frenzy), they return with the single-track encore of Davey Crocket.

This chaotic girl group is so much fun.  Charming to the core, they have been on the verge of chart success for a couple of years and their constant touring is beginning to pay off.  Their music isn’t an exact science, but it doesn’t have to be.  It is feisty, determined and high-spirited.  Just like them. #vivahinds!