Hum – Inlet – Polyvinyl Records
The Illinois band Hum unleashed a surprise. Hum Inlet LP is the first piece of rock in over twenty years. A stunning and beautiful fifty six minutes of rock shimmer and heaviness. Hum have their own brand of shoegaze, indie rock, whatever one wants to label it. They’ve worked years to create this sound. Inlet is lush and ripe due to Hum polishing and crafting this sound.
Inlet is an LP that sounds like they pick up right where Downward is Heavenward left off as if they were in hypersleep and woke up to write this juggernaut.
https://humband.bandcamp.com/releases
Hum’s production and rock guitar sound on the LP Inlet is absolutely huge. So much so that the shoegaze fans should be pleased and the post metal crowd will be satiated and all indie genres in between that may overlap. The tone is even thicker and equally as wide as a grassland brimming with guitar notes instead of tall grass blades. If you are an audiophile and have a really high power system with headphones you’re probably going to want to ruin your ears with this LP.
In fact Hum Inlet LP rock (s) so hard it makes Maynard James Keenan and the boys look like toy poodles drinking Chardonnay out of jewel encrusted dog bowls
The guitars seem to be tuned downward (pun intended) which only makes them weigh even more. The drummer hits with the right amount of finesse and hardness. One particular stand out track is Desert Rambler. On this track heaviness, drums, and the contrast of the quiet parts really stand out.
On Step Into You Hum shows they can still keep their sound and carry on with some catchier material. It’s probably not as much of an earworm as their hit Stars . I’m okay with that because Hum will stand the test of time among its fans. The Stars fans have long since forgotten that song and moved on to obsessing over some other alt rock ilk. Inlet is for the fans of the entire catalog from Electra 2000.. You’d Prefer an Astronaut. and side projects Glifted , Centaur, and finally into the wasteland matrix we know as 2020.
The Summoning feels like a Bonham / Kashmir stroll where you’re dehydrating but you don”t care because you know the lush oasis awaits just up ahead.
Cloud City is a poly rhythmic tune where the drummer gets to stretch his legs while the guitars drone and glissando around the neck. To see and hear this one live it would be hard for me not to bang my head. Despite that this is not your standard head-banger ball type of music.
Hum – Inlet LP comes to a close with Shapeshifter. Although they’re indie rock they can defy labels. This track has some Deadsy – ish or Gary Numan sounds that sound synthesized. These synth sounds add some darkness and depth to the purple alien landscape on the LP cover art.
It could be some steel string trickery run through really wet signal processing machine. Similar to what Slowdive used to do in tone.
The lyrics indicate being lost and maybe despair. I was hoping that it would be about reptilians or lycans. Whatever the case I won’t hold this against them because this is probably the strongest album I’ve heard in June. The record closes with Matt Talbott “Reaching for you.. finding your hand”. Giving hope that maybe there can be a glimmer of hope inside the indie and our holographic world.
If you have the means Polyvinyl Records is offering a bundle on Inlet album and shirt as a bundle. Take advantage of this offer and supporting a decent indie label Please realize it’s a preorder that will ship as soon as they can; due to pandemic and supply vs. demand.
https://polyvinylrecords.com/store/hum_inlet
Addendum – Hum Inlet LP is my pick of the month for June and could be the best album I’ve heard for 2020. Thank you Hum, I am certain your surprise release of Inlet has brightened many people’s days in these uncertain times.