Sweet and Salty Reviews | no. 2
Talk of the latest tastes with Dennis Stock
The Sweet
“Bark Your Head Off, Dog,” by Hop Along.
On their fourth release, Hop Along delivers another set of dynamic, lyrically intricate, rock songs. Like their last album, “Painted Shut,” singer and guitarist Frances Quinlan’s novelesque lyrics, along with her often disjunct narrative style, is on full display, supported by bassist Tyler Long, lead guitarist Joe Reinhart, and her brother, Mark Quinlan, on drums. “Bark Your Head Off, Dog” reigns in the volatility of Hop Along’s previous albums while retaining a wide sonic palette. Once Quinlan’s voice is thrown into the mix — a fully emotive force by itself able to nimbly leap cadences — the songs on this album seem more like a collection of complex, colorful vignettes much like the watercolor on the front cover.
Whereas Hop Along’s previous releases seem like a “coming of age” for Quinlan and company, the first track on this album, “How Simple,” picks things up as the band is hitting their stride. Like the opening shot to a film, Quinlan, beginning in a whisper, sings, “I suppose one, one, one who hasn’t seen / The earlier frames / Could say I am advancing up this road.” Like a camera panning into frame, the initial quiet blossoms into a fast, sunny guitar rhythm accompanied by lively bass and drums. In the lyrics, Quinlan reflects on aging, intimacy and youthful memories, as well as the vulnerability that’s involved. Reaching the first refrain, she sings, “How simple my heart can be / Frightens me.” During the bridge, the music suddenly becomes a bed of funky rhythms. The second refrain elicits a bittersweet albeit mysterious tone, “Don’t worry we will both find out / Just not together.”
The second track, “Somewhere a Judge,” hits hard and fast. With its linear structure, the song quickly builds into a dense, groovy splay of angular guitar melodies on top of a complex drum rhythm. The song’s chorus is one of the many high points on the album, featuring gentle, flickering arpeggios and the lyrics, “Afternoon vanilla sun crawls away across the lawn / Through the phone I pull you and drag your voice around.” The song’s subject matter includes the inescapable presence of death, Arkansas’ rushed lethal injections in 2017 and the image of a judge stretched “out on fine tropical sand.”
Other themes from “Bark Your Head Off, Dog” include meditations on violence, patriarchy and Quinlan’s darker emotions. Throughout the album, the line “Strange to be shaped by such strange men” reemerges in response to anecdotes of war, toxic masculinity, as well as allusions to the bible. In “Look of Love,” Quinlan sings about the schadenfreude she indulged in, and later regretted, when the rabid neighborhood dog that chased her as a young girl finally got ran over.
Like Hop Along’s other works, “Bark Your Head Off, Dog” is catchy yet cerebral, danceable yet thoughtful, both familiar and challenging. Nine densely-packed songs long — in total, sitting at 40 minutes in length — this album deserves several listens.
Rating: 4.2 / 5
The Salty
“Betty, Pt. 1,” by Betty Who
Australian indie-pop darling, Betty Who, releases her second EP, “Betty, Pt.1,” a year after her sophomore album, entitled “The Valley,” which saw her update her nostalgic 80s-inspired pop style to one that was more mainstream. This new EP signals a return to the singer’s original sound, but with mixed results.
Over reverb-drenched snaps, an odd kick drum beat, and warm, dreamy synth tones, Betty Who starts the first track, “Just Thought You Should Know,” sounding conflicted and quiet as she pines for an ex-lover. The track builds into a full-on 80s dance-pop jam, adding a rubbery, twangy bass line, drum machines and bright keyboard jabs. While the lyrics are just okay, Betty Who inhabits the sound and style of the music well; her presence on the track is what really sells it.
Similarly pleasing, the second song, “Taste,” a self-described “vampire fetish” rock song, features sparse production that includes processed choral samples, an elastic, full-bodied bass guitar, and body percussion such as claps and tongue clicks — which, if the tongue clicking wasn’t distracting enough, is mixed deep into the left channel. An over-driven electric guitar is laced all over the track, playing jerky yet seductive grooves. The chorus is fun and well written. My only complaint is that Betty Who overdoes the last part, “The worse they are the better they taste;” her breathy affectation is more annoying than sultry.
Unfortunately, the EP drops in quality somewhat with the third song, “Look Back,”which has some of the worst lyrics on the album, “Homie don’t snap your neck / When you rotate your head / I’m as goodie good as it gets.” The track sounds gaudy, combining a tropical, syncopated guitar rhythm with trippy, down-pitched back-up vocals. Things look up with the second-to-final song, “Ignore Me,” which follows a verse-chorus structure. Betty Who’s voice is accented by synthesized strings and a bass synth.
The sound changes drastically upon reaching the final track, “Friend Like Me,” a sad acoustic ballad about a struggling friend. The finger style guitar is underwhelming, and Betty Who’s breathy sing-song vocals stick out like a sore thumb.
While there are some fun songs on this EP, overall, it is an average release. At just 16 minutes, Betty Who fails to deliver a cohesive, or even consistent, experience. The EP would be much better if it were released with only the best three songs on this album. If the ideas are already so thin at this point, I’m not looking forward to the second EP that Betty Who has in store.
Rating: 2.7 / 5
— huffy.hayden@protonmail.com
@huffy_hayden