Microshift

I've followed Hookworms ever since I saw Drowned in Sound give their debut a 10/10 back in 2013, and while their noisy, basement-dwelling approach to psych rock has always intrigued me, each of their last two albums has stopped short of placing them in my pantheon of modern psych music. Pearl Mystic came close, but the sound was ultimately too muddy and repetitive for me. The Hum felt like a step back, repeating a lot of Pearl Mystic's ideas but with less energy.

With Microshift, Hookworms have come closer to psych rock bliss than ever before, and not at all in the way I expected. Rather than leaning deeper into the murk, the band has cleaned up their act altogether, bringing a clearer, more deliberate approach to their songwriting, production, lyrics and vocals. What results is a bizarre combination of influences, with krautrock, heavy psych, and a healthy dose of emo (esp. due to the newfound clarity of MJ's vocals) in the mix. It shouldn't work, but it does, for the most part. These are heavy, emotional jams that pile on layers of noise without ever losing sight of the emotional core sustained by the vocals/lyrics. It's rather moody at times, but also quite hopeful, a map for escaping darkness and depression. In today's times, that's an impressive feat.

I still think the production makes the music flatter than it ought to be, and I have a hard time staying interested in this album for more than 10-15 mins at a time, but I'm still impressed that Hookworms are generating new ideas when they initially seemed like a one-trick act.

Favorite tracks: Opener, Negative Space, Static Resistance