Reviews

When discussing Hinter's 7-inch with punkbands editor, Ian, I believe he characterized it best. When compared to the band's 2007 demos, the 7-inch is more Jawbox than Jawbreaker. It's a pretty good summary. It does show a different side of the band, for sure, but the inconsistency is a little off-putting. Since Hinter has yet to release a full-length, it's hard to tell which sound fully represents the band. The older demos did sound pretty consistently like Samiam or Jawbreaker or a little Braid-basically "emocore," if that means anything to anyone. For the most part, this 7-inch is a little darker and heavier, leaving me feeling like the band is hesitant to make one cohesive statement about their sound.

Before I go into details, I'm not sure who sings what here. It could be one vocalist, it could be two. I wish I knew enough to say, but I don't. Oh well.

The first track, "Kokomo Cassette Singles," has the airiness of Luna combined the same kind of low, unwavering vocals of Stephen Merritt (of The Magnetic Fields). At the end, the vocals are so flat it almost hurts my ears. It's only a minute-and-a-half long though.

Track two, "The Pharaoh" has a latent Hail to the Chief-era Radiohead feel to it. It unravels slowly and methodically until about halfway through when it breaks (with an "ugh!) into something slightly more Nirvana-esque, with Cobainy vocals to match.

The third and final song, "Lucky Party," sounds like a slightly more urgent Jawbox track, with loud guitars thriving off a rumbling rhythm section. In my opinion, it most consistently builds off the band's demo-sound, twisting it into something a bit darker and heavier.

This collection of songs would probably be interesting after a proper full-length. It's hard to say whether or not you like a band if you're not really sure what they sound like. After all, I like both Jawbox and Jawbreaker, but they're different bands, with different sounds and apt to be played different moods. Despite my complaints with this 7-inch, I am definitely looking forward to this full-length, whenever it arrives.