Hoops EP

Chronique

Hoops is the self-titled label debut of the Bloomington, Indiana band who created buzz with a quick series of lo-fi cassette EPs after they made their way onto the Internet. With a loose and hazy sound that combines dream pop and livelier, melodic jangle pop, the group hit the home studio of leader Drew Auscherman for their Fat Possum debut. The five-song EP collects songs that had been in Hoops' repertoire for a couple of years but had yet to be recorded. Their sound is more immediate here as they lose a lot of the hiss and distance of prior EPs, but they retain their echoey shimmer and a certain amount of lo-fi disposition. "Cool 2" unleashes melodic guitar lines and heavy delay on guitars as a well as vocals. Extended chords hang in the air, creating a harmonic nebula that makes pitch at least equal to texture, a trait that can be heard in the song's fade-out on a single chord. Later, "Going Strong" ups the ante with driving rhythms and a melodic bassline, providing danceable hooks blanketed in soft, arpeggiated attacks and lingering haze. It may sound like a bit of a stretch, but they work in a '70s soft rock vibe, too, particularly on "Give It Time." The song eases the track list into the weekend, so to speak, with trippy sections that change tempo, and an unexpectedly mellow guitar solo, all framed within a tune that comes off as a 2010s lo-fi version of the Alan Parsons Project. If any of this sounds intriguing, Hoops may just be a windfall. At the very least, it's a promising sampler that offers an offbeat mélange of the otherwise familiar.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo