Hockeysmith - But Blood
Hockeysmith are a duo made up of Annie Hockeysmith and Georgie Hockeysmith, two sisters who apparently live in a caravan together in England's foot, Falmouth, Cornwall.
They've been about for a short bit now, having released a double whammy single, Let's Bang/Now I Want To in August last year through their own label, Backabelly, early songs which showed some promise but were overall a little too sketchy and busy to really click. Let's Bang had sonic shades of dream pop, but it sounded thin: there were about four different drum machines and grooves going on, there was a distracting fadeout plonked in the middle for some reason, and it ended by turning into a bizarre Ibiza house stomper. Yes, it had a lot of ingredients and ideas in it and that's far more adventurous than listening to your average genre warrior, but they just didn't really pull it off.
Hockeysmith are now releasing a new EP through excellent British indie label Double Denim, led by new song But Blood. But Blood doesn't exactly tone down on all those ideas – there are big beats, hard rock, shoegaze, and acid house (yes, a properly psychedelic TB-303 bassline, we call it acieeeed, etc.) all in the mix, but it feels a little more confidently executed and more robust technically. In short, it's a lot better, although time will tell whether this was just a fluke or whether they're really found their footing.
Hockeysmith will play The Waiting Room in Stoke Newington, London, on Thursday March 6th 2014 – more information and tickets here.
