Hip Hippie !

Often people make that cheesy remark towards their significant other, the one that goes something like “If I got you than I own the world’’. If the significant other is a girl, she gets all mush, and the dude voicing it thanks whatever movie he fished it out of. And if the case stands the other way around, the girl pops the romantic remark to which the guy gets all cocky and swells himself like a peacock. I mention these because translated into a musical scenery and you get a drum kit and a guitar (with give or take a bass) you got the perfect tools to pop an album. You could own the musical world.

American band Harlem launch this year their second album. Name of the album? Well considering the fact that the album is nothing more than a string of inspired tracks from late bohemian 60’s stage, the name is Hippie. Indeed dreadful fashion (Buddha, those pants – awful), but great political stir. Curiously the boy-trio from Harlem presents their new album under a proper wrapping for such a strong influence. The album sounds exactly like a raw demo recording, but great sound nonetheless. Track after track the drumming beats with passion and strength and the string instruments complete evenly the sound equation.

There are songs to be remarked, and shall be from the quite long list, and that do stand for a clear characterization. The beat makes a fine breakthrough from a fired up, oh-so-reminiscent like Gay Human Bones and Friendly Ghost, to a slightly addictive cool Spray Paint and a feminine/romantic Be Your Baby. Even the amazing Faces, with its vocal repertoire and dandy instrumental, or the melancholic cherry Prairie My Heart make the list fit for a hippie album. Towards the end, with Stripper Sunset, the boys gets a tad aggressive, all play and fun but we can jam seriously too – statement. It’s doomed to like this change of mood and the idea of taking it further. The next song Pissed levels the change and Poolside gives a mild closure far from a finality idea.

The album is not exceptional. But it supports the name or vice versa. Every bit of this album is a constant great reminder of a certain current, of a most loved inspiration. It follows it and pays a dazzling homage to a defining movement dedicated entirely to youth.

picture courtesy of Amazon