The new album from The Hecks is all over the place. A neat hodgepodge of Eighties New Wave and modern indie, the record is out now on Trouble in Mind Records. The Chicago band display a prog-like instrumental prowess with a desire to entertain. This is one of the rare albums that will get comparisons to both Devo and King Crimson.
Opener "Zipper" is skinny tie stuff mixed with early Prince, while "Flash" is more languid, a dash of Frank Tovey embedded here. Elsewhere, "So 4 Real" is just excellent, catchy but like an old single from any number of West Coast power pop acts gleeful with the discovery of a cheap keyboard, while "Josef Josef" is more melodic, a softer spin of early XTC cuts. The title cut on My Star is the longest thing here, nearly double the length of most individual cuts, and it's the more adventurous thing on this record. Sleek, supple, and expansive, it sounds a lot like Adrian Belew's material from the late Eighties. And for all the effort The Hecks put into making peppy electro-pop, this epic number has hints of something else here, the sleek keyboard lines carrying this into an entirely new direction compared to the rest of the album.
My Star is out now via Trouble in Mind Records.
More details on The Hecks via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Ashleigh Dye]