Lucky Number Music

Today Hinds announce their return with a glorious bang, as they launch their third album The Prettiest Curse (out April 3rd) and share “Good Bad Times”, their most anthemic single to date.

With The Prettiest Curse Hinds shrug off any remaining lo-fi accusations and unveil a dizzyingly widescreen beast of an album, not so much a shift as a quantum leap in their evolution as a band. This is a record positively bursting with life, with the band finally harnessing the full extent of their pop prowess and unleashing songs which sound bigger, bolder, and more complex than anything they have done before. Which isn’t to say they have turned their backs on “being Hinds” – quite the opposite in fact! Here, they double down on what, precisely, makes them so special – the bright melodies betraying heart-breaking themes of isolation and betrayal, the empowering, don’t mess with us all-girl gang glow – while going even further. For the first time, they prominently sing in their native tongue, plus on the artwork they work with a childhood hero, the Spanish photographer Ouka Leele with magical results. You know how people say that a drop of balsamic vinegar makes strawberries taste more strawberry-ish? Well, On “The Prettiest Curse”, Hinds sound even more Hinds-ish, and the results are marvellous.

The Prettiest Curse is available for pre-order now.

Having returned this Autumn to announce the upcoming release of long-awaited debut album West of Eden, alongside the explosive comeback singles ‘LOADED’ and ‘The West is Dead’, London based five-piece HMLTD today share the stunning animated video for new track ‘Why?’.

The story for the video was written by guitarist James, with its visuals created by Collectif 99°, an artist-led collective and organisation founded by 10 graduates of the Atelier Supérieur d’Animation in Paris.

Of the track, frontman Henry Spychalski says: “A further mirror to the modern world we live in – via exploring the paradoxical loneliness that defines modern, urban life. Set in Tokyo, the world’s largest metropolitan city and with the verse written in Japanese the song talks about being surrounded by people but an ever increased alienation and detachment from surrounding, neighbours and relationships. As the song progresses, the chorus sounds like Japanese but in fact is a meaningless series of vowels and consonants – mimicking the vertigo of detachment. Even when one does communicate. Is anybody really listening, understanding or trying to understand?”

Madrid 4-piece Hinds – Carlotta Cosials, Ana Perrotte, Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen – return with ‘Riding Solo’, a raucously energising first bite from their forthcoming third album. Produced by Jenn Decilveo (Bat for Lashes, Anne-Marie) in New York, the new track stays true to Hinds’ brazen attitude, but spins it off into a bold, brave new direction for the band, complete with gloriously distorted vocals and ridiculously infectious choruses with delicious echoes of “Paper Planes”.

This tantalising first track points to a thrillingly diverse third album, but at heart, the band remain true to themselves, writing deeply personal lyrics about their trials and tribulations that somehow manage to sound universal as well.

“feeling lonely is one of the most common human feelings, right ? well, being a musician doesn’t really help. your whole life is constantly moving and the only thing that remains is yourself.  and dealing with yourself, oh gosh, we all know how boring and angering that can be. riding solo is about this. about us. perpetually on the move, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time. surrounded by strangers most time of the day, being 9 hours time difference from our people and what we call home, living and dying por y para la música”

Watch the beautifully choreographed, desert-shot video directed by Keane Shaw below, which oozes style and bravado in equal measure.

With two acclaimed albums behind them, Leave Me Alone and I Don’t Run, racking up over 50 million streams worldwide, Hinds have gained global recognition for their emotional openness and unapologetically anarchic ways with their honest, fun, charming music always at the forefront. Hinds love to party, playing as hard as they work and never fail to bring all that energy on stage which has led them to play over 500+ shows all over the world including slots at Glastonbury, Primavera Sound, Pitchfork Paris and Fuji Rock Festival.

Following their recent return with the explosive recent single ‘LOADED’, HMLTD today announce news of the upcoming release of their long-awaited debut album, West of Eden, due for release on 7th February 2020. You can pre-order and pre-save HERE.

The expansive, labyrinthine debut has been several years in the making; a daring collection of songs created to incite conversation about proposed new visions of masculinity, the decadence of western capitalism and the violence of insecurity and repression. Across its 15 tracks, the band’s artistic vision is realised in full technicolour, with all shades of their sonic palette used to create an album that is equal parts lush and abrasive.

Alongside today’s announcement, HMLTD share the video for brand new single and album opener ‘The West Is Dead’, a dizzying rally call brought to life with the fuzz of a driving bassline, pulsing electronics and Spychalski’s sick croon. Its accompanying haunting visuals envisions a near-future Europe, plunged back into feudalism after total social and ecological collapse. Shot by Niall Trask, it continues the band’s run of thought provoking yet beautiful videos,

Of the track, Spychalski explains: “this is not dystopia, but a mirror up to late capitalism; where we are and where we’re headed. Sick dolphins lap at the tide, the insects have all dropped from the skies and the global economy enters free fall. Ecological catastrophe guaranteed. The West is dead. Atomised, alienated and apathetic”

When Nardeydey, AKA Shirley Tetteh, released her first solo singles “Speedial” and “FreeFalling” at the tail end of 2018 and start of 2019, we were watching in real time the emergence of a singular and complex songwriter-artist from a musician that was already a guitarist of renown in London’s new jazz scene.

Playing in fast-rising collective Nérija (Domino), spiritual jazz ensemble Maisha (Brownswood), and also in the Mercury Music Prize 2019 nominated Seed Ensemble, Shirley opened up to reveal her deeply personal and remarkable songwriting, processing her inner life with dream-logic tapestries, pulling together myriad influences from folk, pop, jazz, soul, gospel, electro-pop, afrobeats and beyond. All written and self-produced, the tracks are deeply original, wearing her guitar virtuosity lightly in creating inexplicably perfect trans-genre pop songs.

Today Nardeydey is announcing that her debut eponymous EP will be released digitally and as a Rough Trade exclusive 12” vinyl at the end of November. She also shares new single and EP track, ‘Dreamin’, a luscious track dotted with found sound sample texture & a revolving cascade of chords, discloses new facets of her vision with each track.