Score 8.7/10
By: David Williams
Indie Rock, like all kinds of music, goes in cycles. Since the 2010s, the main appeal has centered on pop synth-laden songs with dreamy guitar overlays. The kind of vibes that give off the feeling of floating on a never-ending cloud. This year, we have seen a shift in style, with bands finding success in distorted to hell-level guitar shoegaze. Heavy influence was pulled from the sound popularized in the early 90s with bands My Bloody Valentine, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Hole. Today, a new generation is still drawing inspiration from seismic guitar riffs like Wednesday, Feeble Little Horse, and Hotline TNT. The latter releases an album that brutalizes you in the best way possible with gigantic tidal waves of distorted guitars.
The band leader, Will Anderson, lived a nomadic life in which he grew up in the Midwest. He lived almost a year in India, then found his way to Vancouver fronting a grungy, sludge rock band in Weed, which had a slight but devoted following. He’s made his name on shoegaze guitars filtered through a DIY aesthetic. Now in his mid-30s, he’s moved to Brooklyn, taking his life experiences to form a new creation in Hotline TNT. The band gained enough following since signing to Jack White’s Third Man Records. Cartwheel is the second album from Hotline TNT, which feels like a creative breakthrough for Anderson.
Photo Credit: Wes Knoll
“There’s no crazy effects chain or pedal board. The songs should shine through no matter what equipment is laying around.” Anderson said in a statement. Cartwheel’s sound can only be described as mega, with the sole intent being for you to play the songs with the highest maximum volume humanely possible. You listened to the record properly if you could barely hear from one of your ears after the final track.
The guitar riffs in the middle of “Beauty Filter” are razor-edged, going from low to high, sounding damn near transcendent. The jangly build-up on “Protocol” teases and plays with you for a whole minute before an explosion wall of sounds comes in full. The distortion is turned up to the extreme on “I Thought You’d Change.” It’s a song loaded with a catchy pop chorus and mesmerizing guitars. The scuzzy sound of “Son in Law” is full of fun moments and is reminiscent of prime Dinosaur Jr. Anderson sings about a lost love: “When I let you go/I’ll watch from the sidelines/Chances been blown.”
Clocking in at a tidy 33-minute runtime. Cartwheel flies through the air like Anthony Edwards going in for a two-handed windmill dunk. Structurally, the transitions are buttery smooth, going from song to song where you don’t know where one begins or ends. The vocals are also stacked in the back of the mix, so the guitars are the main attraction here, shining through as the star of the show.
Will Anderson centers the lyrics mostly on either heartbreak from someone else or his own doing. There are even some Drake-ish lines peppered in, like on the chorus of “History Channel” where he sings, “Cuz there’s a lot about love/You never hear me say sorry/And there’s a lot in this song/That’s not in my diary.” It’s safe to say the Heartbreak Kid’s fizzy guitar distortion with pop hooks transformed into sweet chin music.