Manchester may be on the cusp of a long-awaited heatwave but look outside and you’d hardly be able to tell. Thankfully, Madrid’s low-fi rock outfit Hinds paid us a visit this week to bring some much needed summer vibes to what can often feel like a perpetually dreary city. Hot off the release of their dream-pop infused sophomore offering I Don’t Run, the garage rock quartet arrived at basement bar Gorilla to give their new tracks an airing and from the off seemed just as happy to see us as we were to see them. Which makes sense – as one half of the band’s dual vocalist team Ana Perrote points out halfway through tonight’s set, Manchester was the first date of their 2018 UK tour to sell out. Clearly, we’re in dire need of summer pick-me-up.
It’s new record opener “The Club” that kicks off tonight’s set, with its careening guitars doubling-down on that rough-and-ready sound that earned Hinds praise for their garage-y debut Leave Me Alone back in 2016. With just two records under their belt they hardly have an abundance of tracks to cherry-pick from but instead of holding them back, this proves perfect for a cram-packed hour of beach-rock goodness that hardly stops once it gets going. Newer tracks “Soberland” and “Echoing My Name” nestle nicely next to older cuts like the lazy “Chilli Town” and bass-led earworm “Bamboo”, with singers Perrote and Carlotta Cosials lyrically flitting between English and their native Spanish as the set progresses. Manchester meanwhile laps it up, hanging off every guitar slide and embracing the band’s infectious vibe.
With the venue heating up, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a festival tent and not a rainy railway arch as Hinds near the end of tonight’s performance. It’s the hypnotic drum beat of the band’s wailing rendition of Thee Headcoatees’ “Davey Crockett” that signals the end of their main set by kicking things into raw overdrive. With the crowd bubbling along with the band, Perrote decides to get in on the action herself with a bit of impromptu crowd surfing, bouncing around while her grinning bandmates bring the party to a close.
However it’s not long before they’re back to expel the last dregs of tonight’s energy with a trio of tracks to send Manchester off with a smile on its face. Cosials laughs while flexing some impressive behind-the-head shredding skills much to the delight of the crowd while I Don’t Run track “San Diego” leaves the city singing about escaping to the beach. Everything considered, it’s hard not to feel like tonight’s show is exactly what Manchester needed.
Words by Simon Bland (@SiTweetsToo).
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