Tim: Last week, apparently, there was a big album released with tracks from 65 artists in aid of a Swedish human rights group called Feministiskt Initiativ; we got sent this one, from new band HvH, short for Hammer Village Heights. I’d say ‘contains flashing images’, but more accurate would be ‘is a flashing image’.
Tom: That is wonderful. I have absolutely no idea why that’s hit me quite so hard, but it has: that’s an absolutely brilliant track.
Tim: It’s also incredibly downbeat, and despite it being that, I love it.
Tom: I know it’s technically ‘downbeat’, but this is a textbook example of how you can make a song uplifting, rousing, and almost spiritual without needing to go over the top.
Tim: I think it’s the almost military feeling it brings with it – that, combined with the main line of the chorus being “we will be the cause of your destruction”, the bare lyric video and the disconnected slightly robotic voice makes it an almost sinister track, and certainly one that’s keen on getting its message across. It does, however, have a great melody to it, and for me at least it all works brilliantly.
Tom: It reminds me of some of VNV Nation’s recent work — I suspect the band name helps with that — and that’s a sincere compliment. There are a hundred songs like this that I’d dismiss as “plodding” and “slow”, and somehow, I wish I knew how, they’re able to make it brilliant.
Tim: I’m not sure I’d like a whole album of this, but it’s a damn good starting point.