- In the era of Run For Cover, Topshelf, and even on our own shores, Poison City records affiliated acts bringing emotionally heavy bands that oft are birthed in the D.I.Y scene out of the basement shows, and away from stage divers, the market for indie folk and folk punk bands has now become a flooded one. It might sound like a band thing but there is where Hop Along flourish.
Bark Your Head Off, Dog solidifies Hop Along’s extended career, and due to this experience, their learnt versatility. They’re able to reign sovereign over a nine track album; displaying qualities highlights their amassed maturity and ability to write a brilliant tune. There are multiple infections of noodling emo guitars that permeate and are glossed with a very knowing nod to pop-based melodies. It heralds a peppier vibe with the chords chopping through, weaving in to and out of melody lines again with seamless ease. Flow and motion are constant motifs throughout this record. There's a whole record sense of journey or adventure, these tracks carry you through dense, enthralling narratives that sound like the musical equivalent of Angel Carter’s The Magic Toyshop in so much as there are sinister themes laced into the veil of a dreamy, almost magical aesthetic. In these journeys, the soundscape pushes and pulls in constant stirring. Additional strings bolster the melancholy strain of Not Abel, feeding into the tried and true soft / loud dynamic contrast. After a tense discordant swell, it peters out into a head bopping indie rock ending passage. Literally the following song, The Fox In Motion, is built upon an electric beat. It morphs into picturesque indie pop. Despite all their variation, Hop Along play songs that sound decidedly like Hop Along songs. Primarily anchored by more than competent, flawless drumming that guides these gems, a primed sheen emanates from the Philly four piece. Opener How Simple personifies this to a tee. How the band transitions from driving beginnings to a dancier midsection and resolving into sweet vocal pop, proves that they are so much more than the sum of their constiuant parts; it’s humbling.
In the thirteenth year of their career, Bark Your Head Offf, Dog will steal your heart and cause you to fall in love with Hop Along, if you haven’t already. It takes me back to that first epiphany I had as a kid. The notion that music wasn’t some accompanying background character that was always looming in your parent’s car and backwater supermarkets and was, in fact, a potent art that you can emotionally connect with. This is the new standard of music.
- Matt Lynch.