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Album Details

• Artist: The Loose Hinges
• Album: The Loose Hinges
• Label: Self-Released
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: charlesmartel on 2011-10-30

Nashville Tennessee duo, the Loose Hinges, offer up a mixture of sounds and sensations with their self-titled debut album. Self-described as "mostly dream pop", the eleven tracks on the album offer something much broader than a simple rehash of the early nineties genre. Indeed, the biggest single comparison to be made with the original dream pop is the languid and comfortable feel of the tracks, which have a sort of summery feel to them bringing to mind warm days in the fields with a flagon of cider and a carton of Marlboro to share round.

Vocalist Kris McCarthy has a voice which reminds you of Sheryl Crow in many ways, but also brings in elements of Liz Phair and even Shania Twain. Yet, don't be mistaken into thinking that The Loose Hinges is standard chick rock, for there is considerably more to it than that. A full array of sounds is provided by Eliot Houser, the other half of the duo, taking on a plethora of influences across rock, soul, jazz, Latin and pop.

Right from the opening track, "Out of the Sun", the duo set out their stall. By the time you are four tracks into the album, you have settled comfortably enough into the rhythm, just in time for the Loose Hinges to unsettle you with the Latin-influenced "Just Say It". This is a clever move to ensure that the listener continues to listen, and listen you should for the one thing you do not want to happen is to allow the music to seep into the background of whatever else it is you are doing. There is much more to come, and much more than you can properly take in on your first listen.

The next nudge to your complacency comes with "What You Waitin' For". Lulled into yet another false sense of security, you are greeted with a gritty track to shake up your senses and demonstrate that the Loose Hinges have the capability to rock you when they wish. In case you suspected McCarthy's capability to deliver on a track like this, give those suspicions up. She manages with ease to take it on without losing the essence of her own vocal style. "Don't Let Me Hold Back" offers a combination of the varied strands of their music, with its gentle verses while the refrain is more up-tempo, with a harder edge, while the electric guitar, when it comes to the fore, pitches you half way between the two, making this perhaps the stand out track on the album. After a folk-influenced, almost country ballad, "You Do More", the album rounds off with "Oh Boy", a folk-blues number which blends acoustic and acoustic bottleneck guitars.

Give this a listen. In fact, give it several. The more you hear this the more you will discover. And if you really want to hear The Loose Hinges at its best, then wait for a warm summer afternoon.

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