Two prestigious names coming together is always cause for excitement. In this case we have Tim Presley, an American lo-fi garage rock artist who has worked with The Fall and Ty Segall, and the Welsh Cate Le Bon who has worked with everyone from Neon Neon, Richard James (Aphex Twin), Manic Street Preachers and The Chemical Brothers. There is no doubt that these two have a gift for music, with Presley releasing six solo albums as White Fence and Le Bon with three albums to her name, but the most exciting thing is that they both always look to push the boundaries of what music is and what music can be. Together they form Drinks – “a solo project, not a collaboration. It has one mouth, one set of lungs, one mind and four legs” – taken from their press release, which gives you the impression (along with the album trailer) that Hermits On Holiday definitely isn’t the safe and predictable album. Instead, a journey into barefaced and presumptuous surreal pop that questions the listener’s idea of what they think of music.
A Jim Morrison esque yell at the beginning kicks things off on the first track ‘Laying Down Rock’, a modern pastiche of a mellow 60s hippy pop-rock song. Its simple drumming and percussion with acoustic guitar chords toing and froing with the clean and simple electric guitar bassline, compliment Presley’s introspective love/hate vocals. ‘Focus On The Street’ is a punk song that drifts into Krautrock territories. At first it sounds quite grating, but by the first chorus you are sucked into the clever drum line, continuous bassline and travelling electric guitar solo – even a harsh metallic lashing sound midway through the track doesn’t deter. The dizzying and eccentric start of ‘Cannons Mouth’ takes the listener into a futuristic alien world – the modulated vocals and instruments are eerie yet still manage to retain a strangely comforting quality within its melody. ‘She Walks So Fast’ is an old fashioned blues rock’n’roll, reminiscent of The Doors ‘L’America’ as if a wasted Ian Dury was doing a messy cover, stopping and starting and only just stumbling into a proper song towards its end.
The first single off Hermits On Holiday is perhaps the most accessible song on the album. With a metronome drum beat, panning tick-tock cowbell and Le Bon unmistakeable guitar and Nico-esque vocals, the title track starts as a relatively simplistic track with only the odd hi hat and occasional build of guitar reverb keeping things interesting. It is only when it hits its mid-point when the track blossoms into a silly pop song (in the best way, of course), with Presley’s playing the bass, a more excitable drum beat and a spacey xylophone thrown in for good measure. Similarities with The Velvet Underground & Nico continues in ‘Spilt The Beans’, my favourite track on the album. The near seven minute epic takes a groove ridden psychedelic journey through the intense and mad moments off Magical Mystery Tour into 1960s French pop noir, and it’s a perfect combination. An eccentric long interlude in ‘Tim, Do I Like That Dog?’ has Le Bon asking said question over harsh disrupted punk/jazz experimentation where drums, bass and guitar in freak-out mode are all fighting for the focal point. Not the most memorable song on the album, but interesting all the same – much like ‘Cheerio’ which enters a darker psychedelia realm. The vibe continues in the final track ‘Time Between’ where ritualistic bass and drums, and chant like vocals loom affront ominous atmospherics making for a disconcerting end which leaves you wanting more of this Drinks induced trip.
Weirdly, this is one of my favourite albums this year. It may not be the most beautiful, conventional or adaptable record of all time, but Hermits On Holiday is so refreshingly eclectic, unique and profound that it keeps the listener on their toes and wondering how the hell two people from other sides of the world have created a body of music that is so assured and so purposeful in what it wants to be. Drinks are playing The Hope & Ruin on 11th September and I couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of seeing this album live.
Iain Lauder