By now, anything that comes out on the PNKSLM label is liable to excite me a bit. But still, I'm always a bit pleasantly surprised when a release from them seems to buck the prevailing styles of the earlier offerings that made them catch attention. The new EP from Shaun Blackwell as Hemi Hemingway is such a product. The Lonely Hunter is hardly conventional, but it's direct in a way that seems new for an act on this imprint.
Taking its cue from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Lonely Hunter leans into not Americana, but heartfelt post-rock. Think The War on Drugs, if that act was actually more interesting, or Tom Waits, if he fronted a guitar-rock band. "Burnin' Blue" and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye" are emotive and genuine, shards of dissonance lurking between the grooves here. Elsewhere, "Move Over Darling" ratchets up the emotion a bit. This Hemi Hemingway EP is uniformly good, with nothing wasted here, nor a false note sounded. Blackwell wisely plays this straight, without allowing any of it to seem an ironic embrace of more direct forms. Still, there's enough of interest here in the sometimes noisy and complex music to keep a longtime fan of this label's acts enthralled.
The Lonely Hunter is out now via PNKSLM.
More details on Hemi Hemingway via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: NXSH]