Holograms - Holograms (Vinyl LP, CD)

This lot are from Stockholm and the singer has one of those boomy reverbed shouty voices and kind of chants his lyrics purposefully (and slightly tunelessly) over a charming yet pedestrian art-rock racket. It all reminds me very much of the more bullish end of the brief wave of mid-’00s post-punk - I’m unsure how this fits my ears today, the music is very driven and samey but played with enthusiasm and gusto. For instance the track ‘Chasing My Mind’ has choppy old skool indie guitar, frantic drums and a stupid keyboard that sounds like a dying cartoon wasp. It has a strange kind of charm but is about as challenging as brief Icelandic hopes Jakobinarina (anyone?) and he does “sing” like he’s trying to eat a sandwich and yodel at a girl simultaneously.

To give them their due they sound like a very competent European festival band in love with the overcoat rock of the early ‘80s and they certainly have some rousing energy and thrusting mini air-punching anthems that should be shrouded in tons of dry ice and accompanied by the jostling or introverted head nodding of angsty young men with awkward haircuts and scowls. I like the way the often tribal sounding drums are mixed deep and bassy too. The tune ‘Transform’ is a particular highlight with touches of Bauhaus at their most manic.