Released: 5th June 2020
Rating: ★★★★
Hinds aren’t the first band to reveal that life on the road isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, and they sure won’t be the last. ‘The Prettiest Curse’, the third album from the Madrileños, doesn’t shy away from the moments of feeling homesick or the worries about people and relationships they’ve left at home. But, thankfully, it doesn’t shy away from The Bangers either on by far their best record so far.
There’s an air of confidence right from the start with the pure pop sheen that surrounds ‘Good Bad Times’, carried throughout as they constantly switch between singing in English and their native tongue. Hinds have always crafted catchy melodies, but here they are powering up their production too. Still carrying that same air of mischief and attitude, their collective middle fingers are raised to all the dickhead men who have patronised them over the years on ‘Just Like Kids (Miau)’ while on the empowering ‘Burn’, a warning is made that “We didn’t come here to please you my dear”.
Most of all though, ‘The Prettiest Curse’ is a huge leap forward in sound. Their trademark lo-fi aesthetic may still hang around the edges, but moments like the transcendent guitar solo on ‘Take Me Back’ make you feel like you could fly. “Fuck tomorrow, today never ends” roars the call to arms on ‘The Play’, a raw and urgent cry that has never rung truer for a band who finally seem to be realising all their potential. Something has shifted, and this gang isn’t for messing around any more. For Hinds, tres is the magic number.
Jamie MacMillan
