Album Review

Gravenhurst – Hollow Men

• 22nd Sep 2007

Opening with a jagged almost Sonic Youth esque guitar riff, Gravenhurst take elements of The Cure, Sonic Youth and Early U2 and throw it into the mix with their own Lo-Fi sound and come back with a single which is brief yet totally to the point.

Nick Talbot mixes sharp brief vocalising Lo-Fi guitar riffs which definitely lean towards the gloomier side of The Cure, the track certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome – this is a lean track but it is still lacking. At times it sounds like an alt-country version of Silver Rocket by Sonic Youth especially in the feedback/guitar riff section in the middle eight which really made me think of that track.

Hollow Men for me doesn’t work too well as a stand alone track although the track is definitely a good advert for Talbot’s new full band edged sound. It just sounds a little laboured and emulates other bands and songs in the process, I think the track will hold more weight live but on record it is missing the power or the invention which would have made a really great track.