Album Review

Hooverphonic – President of the LSD Golf Club

• 15th Feb 2008

With a strong overseas fan base, but a confusingly limited one in the UK, Hooverphonic show no signs of letting up releasing a new album every two years. It has been this way since 1996’s ‘A New Sterophonic Sound Spectacular.’ They danced around in the electronic pop world for a couple of albums, but then seemed to find their confident stride between their third album ‘The Magnificent Tree’ and their fourth effort ‘Jackie Cane Presents.’ They are still very much in the pop realm, but a more calm, 60’s psychedelic influenced arena. Why that era? Well the choice of instruments, from the bass and strings to the orchestration, speak for themselves.

And so comes ‘The President of the LSD Golf Club’ present familiar territory (Which would make sense as much of the material was written along with the material on their previous album). There is a sense of shape however that keeps this group of songs together. There is a definite feel to the style of songs chosen. Saving this selection to go together was clearly a good idea as it will keep fans cheery with their familiar style, but also present it to them as a themed piece.

Hooverphonic usually have a penchant for opening their albums with songs that build into something grand. That is absent in this case, but what the song ‘Stranger’ does is keep you at bay for what may follow. It is a simple harmony that doesn’t really doesn’t go anyway. So it builds with its stepping piano but does not deliver the high that previous album starters like ‘Autoharp’ and ‘ You Love Me To Death.’

What this does do is set up beautifully for one of the Albums highlights. ’50 Watt’ grabs your attention immediatley and drives through with a very thumping 60’s bass. A total mood and seductive piece which also includes some Male Vocals which haven’t really been toyed with since their second album. Again, as much as Geike Arnaert fits perfectly as Hooverphonic’s voice – She is beautifully supported on this album by song maestro Alex Callier.

At times it seems as if they wanted to strip back Arnaert’s voice by making the whole experience much more about the music that usually compliments her magical voice. The music is very much front and centre here. But it would be an insult to Arnaert to suggest that she has taken a backseat. It’s more a case that she isn’t threatening to steal the show on this one. She is still very much a presence on the album from start to finish as is Calliers enveloping tunes. It defies belief that one person can write so many albums that work and age so well.

‘Gentle Storm’ is a song that very much echoes ’50 Watt’ (or vice versa) with a pretty fairytale-esque feel to it and Callier stepping up again to join vocal duties. This is swiftly followed by some more funky bass in the simple but driven ‘The Eclipse Song.’

The album slows down towards the end making for fewer songs that jump out at you. But as an experience The Presidents of the LSD Golf Club is a wholesome one, and not about promoting the odd stand out tune. The only thing even remotely anoying about this album is having to type its ludicrously long title out.