The night of October 22, Larimer Lounge was invaded by the casual, relaxed and chilly indifference of Hinds. This garage pop-rock girl band formed in 2011 in Madrid came to Denver as part of their 2015 American tour. Their concert brought me back to my home country, Spain. It is not that they sang in spanish, nor that their music revived the roots of spanish music. They didn’t even pronounce a word of spanish to their public —when I tried to scream a emotional “bravo!” I was ignored—. But I could feel it. There was something spanish in their music, in their pidgin spoken english, their way of laughing, drinking beer and moving along the stage. It was a crazy, wild and fresh coolness that, for one night, transported me to the funkiest neighborhoods of Madrid.
For the full hour of the concert, Carlotta, Amber, Ana and Ade managed to display the charming and chilling sound —and attitude— that granted their success in the venues of London back in 2011, even before being known in the national spanish music circles. This was their second performance in Denver, but their first being headliners. While Public TV Access played as their supporters, the girls of Hinds infiltrated and danced among the public —even forming a pogo, jumping and colliding with the rest of the audience—. In the blink of an eye, they had disappeared from the crowd and were stepping up to the stage, ready to play some of their old songs and others to be included in their first LP, Leave me
Alone, which will be released in early 2016. Chilly Town -one, two, three, foooooour-, Bamboo, San Diego, Easy, Warning with the Curling, Between Cans, Davy Crockett… sounded one after another, but I was personally struck by Castigadas en el Granero (‘Punished in the Barn’), a song of a faster rhythm, lyrics
based in repetition and a lo-fi underground guitar background. The public danced, screamed and followed the lyrics song after song, and suddenly the concert was coming to an end with the crowd invading the stage to sing along with Hinds the final lyrics in the show.
After leaving the concert, I had a long way home to think about what I just had seen. Their music wasn’t that complex, nor their lyrics really deep and profound. So, what was it that had struck me so much? I think I’ll never be able to answer the question. But the truth is that facts speak for themselves. These girls have managed to carry their fuzzed-up DIY garage sound along tours all over the States, Australia and Europe. They know how to connect with their audiences, how to perform uplifting concerts and how to produce the
most scoozy-but-engaging music that I’ve heard in a long time. They are Hinds, and they will leave your head in a mess.
by Noel Fernandez