Indie pop quartet Hot Vestry are my second new band to write about for the Introducing page. Harry, Joe and Will formed the band in Macclesfield, Cheshire, as teenagers. Later recruiting keyboardist Tilly Morris, daughter of New Order bandmates Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris, previously of fellow Macclesfield band Joy Division, who was named number 5 in Stylus Magazine’s 50 Greatest Rock Drummers of All Time. The four-piece’s experimental pop music caught the attention of The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess, who signed them to his record label ‘OGenesis’. They managed to secure impressive support slots with bands such as The Charlatans, New Order, Public Service Broadcasting and Jaws.
Before forming a partnership with Tim Burgess, they released 2014’s ‘Tell Me How It’s Done’ EP on their own label, entitled ‘Bleichpop Corporation’. The EP introduced us to moody post-punk songs like ‘Varnish’, ‘Lake Of The Moon’ and ‘Commiserations’. It’s like Joy Division if Ian Curtis was a pop punk singer.
2015’s follow-up EP, ‘A Scene In Between’, which I reviewed in March (read here), showed the band’s evolution. The first EP released on OGenesis gave us more synth-based, electronic music. The intro track, ‘A Public Execution’, is a sinister instrumental with a sci-fi feel. Track two of four, ‘Hit Me Harder’, despite the title, is not as punky as songs from Tell Me How It’s Done. The third and fourth songs are ‘Parallel To Tomorrow’ and ‘Quiet Headed’. Both are electronic in essence and incorporate funky guitar riffs. However, Parallel To Tomorrow is more reminiscent of Tell Me How It’s Done EP with its punk attitude and angsty vocals. Quiet Headed on the other hand has a poppy melodic chorus.
Trackdose 