There are enough moments of interest here to warrant a review of this. See, I only write about stuff I like which is why all of my reviews are largely positive ones. This will be right on the edge of that rule, folks.
Hermits on Holiday, out Friday on Heavenly Recordings, is the first album from Drinks -- I simply refuse to write the band's name in the pretentious all caps format! And who the hell names a band "DRINKS" anyway? -- and Drinks is Tim Presley from White Fence and Cate Le Bon from...a lot of critically acclaimed stuff that has yet to grab me. Still, she worked with the Manic Street Preachers so she gets a pass from me.
She also gets a pass 'cause on stuff like "Cannon Mouth" she charms with a vibe largely reminiscent of Broadcast at their best. Then, when we get to the nearly unlistenable tracks on this record -- something like "She Walks So Fast" -- one can be forgiven for asking why this album even exists. Is it simply an experiment between these two obviously talented artists? Who knows?
That said, "Laying Down the Rock" takes a simple pattern and creates a marvelous hook out of it, while "Cheerio" successfully melds the edgier work of Fad Gadget and his ilk with more accessible vocals thanks to Cate. Album closer "Time Between" uses the combined efforts of Tim Presley and Cate Le Bon to produce a track that Can would have been proud to call their own.
Still, this album is not entirely a success. I guess I'm writing about it because, on some deep level, I respect these two for trying but, in all honesty, I'm probably never going to play most of this again.
Hermits on Holiday from Drinks is out Friday on Heavenly Recordings.