Hollows-Hollows lp

by Josh Villaire
(Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States of America)

I have always been most attracted to a bands presence, and not it's marketing appeal.

The Hollows are undoubtedly a band with enough built-in presence to light you up like a rocket, and keep you dancing through your last throes of gravel-kissing extinction! Be prepared to see these art nouveau beauts beat on the brat of rock'n'roll very soon in the immediate future, along with other shadowed friends that are just on the verge of breaking out.

Never before did I expect to see Nobunny on the cover of Spin magazine, and now there he is, leering back at us in all his blasphemous glory! I guarantee that these girls are next in line to the broiling spot-light. What's better is they bring a new spirit of punk to the ring that is their time-honored birth-right!

Kicking off the A-side of the most well produced indie record I've heard in a long time(which is done on a 45 banana- colored record) is the song 'Johnny Appleseed'.

It's a merry romp that introduces you to their spirit-raising, timelessly echoing sound that will envelope you in a padded-womb of nostalgic mood rock! Where do these gals come from, the 60's, 70's? 'fraid not, this album was released in 2009 by Addenda records!

Right off the bat you'll feel the atmosphere in the room change, as chairs start floating around and china plates shatter overhead! The lyrics will knock you flat because their so damn descriptive yet simplistic! Finally after flapping your arms like an extinct Dodo, prepare to evaporate into...

'Shadows in the Dark', another stunning lil' ditty of haunting chantings from the bone-chilling underworld that ends so quickly it's hard to remember how breathtaking it was! In a finger-snap your transported to...

'Watch out Sally' which won't be forgotten in all it's swaggering pimplike vigor. This song breathes with the bad-breath and raw libido ache of lust, and stolen kisses. It's so catchy it will be programmed in your head right in time for the cell division of...

'Mary goes to Law School' with all the brain-bashing of the best Ramones songs. The organ really comes into play here, and you realize this band rocks it's organ like a bass guitar. The lyrics tickle me senseless on 'Law School'. These women really know how to string an idea together, and make it shake!

You'll be sporting seizures and conniption fits right as...

'Muncie, IN' pumps you full of mournful yearnings and pitch perfect drums that smack juicily at the right moments with the enthusiasm you get from snapping apart Lincoln logs, Legos, or bones if you are of the more psychopathic variety.

Unfortunately a voice breaks through the cloud of smoke and disturbs the nostalgic timelessness by explaining the song in a monotone voice that sticks out like a sore thumb. Luckily...

'Skeleton Woman' blasts us back into drum-addled punk-fast freak-outs, and all is forgiven as the static points your hair in this whirling finale.
Flying high to the B-side we have 'Do the Scarecrow' that will be a hit on our future radios when rock finally stops sounding so Goddamn lousy!

Again with the laugh-out-loud allusion-laden lyrics 'Scarecrow' jumps and jiggles with the campy flavor of 50's William Castle films, edging the listener towards the pleasant oblivion of...

'Happy to Listen' which slows the album down a bit after the speediness of 'Scarecrow', but it's a good thing, we don't want the album sounding exactly the same everywhere right? This album definitely does not, but there is a general ethereal feel.

'Listen' has a real light-hearted glow that reminds me of skipping or lolly-gagging too long and missing the bus because I was gazing up some girls skirt before school. It shreds loose your second skin of defenses and drops you right into...

'Touch-Me-Nots' continuing in the tradition of a lightly, sparse beast that smells highly of the shame and woe of rejection, and bruised knees in need of band-aids.

There's some uplifting jerks to the song, but ultimately the message is "hands off, I'm damaged goods!" Thankfully this album is all tongue-in-cheek, or else we'd be crying right into the hands of...

'Love will Find You' which lurches the album slowly back to life with a steady pulse of hallucinatory imagery that suddenly becomes a love song.

Then, very unpredictably, the jokes on the listener, as the band appears to laugh at you with bitter glee for becoming immersed in a love song, and turns the hallucinations back on which flow prophetically into...

'Shrines' resonating and glowing with radioactive shell shock that just keeps swelling and undulating like a sacred object you've seen in a dream for the first time! Each tingling sound seems to illuminate the song with new life, and electrify the senses like a bee-sting! What a rad way to end an album!

The Hollows Lp is a pure, and no-holds barred trip into unknown territories.

As soon as I heard it I was plagued with the sensation of time ceasing to exist as well as a brooding feeling that I'd never hear anything like it again!

Since the show in Grand Rapids last summer I've been itching to put my love into words for these Chicago natives. Their live performance is astounding, especially in a gritty punk dive. If your stewing in your own bile for these ghost-girls from the past yet go out and search for their records on Facebook or Myspace, and they will be found!

This one's from 2009 so they probably have a slew of others to choose from! Me, I'm a record scrounging enthusiast who will probably do it the old fashioned way and wait for them to play a show nearby again! For other record lovers who love to spin their fuzzy warbles off look these ladies up! You won't regret it.