HUNTINGS Release New Double A-side single ‘Yes I Am/Howl’
Brothers James and Brian Edwards collectively known as HUNTINGS, have spent last year creating considerable buzz around the band, releasing singles ‘Turn On’, ‘Doom’ and ‘Sparks’. These caught the sharpened ears of PureM Zine, Turn Up The Volume, the Beat.ie, Rock N Load and IMRO who all bestowing praise on the track. As well as radio play from Amplify with Ailsha on RTE2XM, New Music Sonar, Alternative Frequencies and Code Zero Radio. This culminated in the release of their blistering debut album ‘Songs of Last Resort’. The album title ctaken from letters given to submarine captains in the event of a nuclear attack and their orders on how to retaliate. Over the course of 9 songs, they explore themes of love and loss, relationship dynamics, dealing with the human condition as well as despair and despondency at the world around them. These are the songs of retaliation, as the brothers try and make sense of the modern world. If there’s a soundtrack to the of the world, this is it.
HUNTINGS – Yes I Am (Spotify Link)
The dark, brooding sound of HUNTINGS is the product of finding power in simplicity, eschewing the need for a bass player, stripping back their sound to the core elements of guitar, vocals and drums. Then melding the speaker shredding distortion of Nirvana to the intrinsic tension of Joy Division. The brothers have an uncanny ability to create disquiet in their music, which compliments the various lyrical themes. The constant feeling of existing on a knifes edge, unprepared for whatever horrors await.
HUNTINGS return now with the release of double A-side ‘Yes I Am‘ and ‘Howl‘. ‘Yes I Am’ puts you in the passenger seat beside some deranged misfit at the wheel. There’s an unhinged quality to the vocals that carry an inherent menace to them, with that in mind there’s a definite pop influence in this song. The chorus is huge and hooky, Brian’s drums create dynamics against the wall of guitars, adding ebb and flow between verses and choruses, elevating James’s vocals. As the song builds to a crescendo, the band let rip on their instruments as James intones ‘dissolve’. ‘Howl’, changes gear as tempos come down, but it’s all the more unsettling for it. ‘There’s a creature in your home’ and ‘I don’t much time left’ are unnerving as is but given more weight as the track addresses domestic abuse. It’s sobering amongst the rockier tracks and shows the band are far from a one trick pony or afraid to deal with more serious topics lyrically. Heavy in all facets here.
HUNTINGS are an A24 movie given musical form, you know something is wrong, but you don’t know what or when it’ll rear it’s ugly head but you can’t look away, even as the horror and unease ramp up. The brother give a master class in how to create atmosphere in music, with tracks that each bring their own unique skin-crawling sonics. Thematically the songs are dark and heavy, not afraid to go the recesses of one’s psyche or explore the darker side of human existence always with one eye on annihilation, of the self, others, or the world. The gargantuan noise that the two brothers create should take two or three times their number. Guitars move from surfy reverb to buzzsaw distortion drenched destruction. Brians drums provide purpose and drive to parts, accentuating guitar lines and vocal patterns, almost goading James into pushing harder and further than before.