Hookworms - Microshift

Rating:

A record that shines in the face of darkness.

On Boxing Day 2015, the North was hit with serious flooding. Homes were uninhabitable and local businesses left ruined. Hookworms’ Matthew Johnson’s Kirkstall based studio, Suburban Home, was one such place damaged by the floods. It was this tragedy that left many people, MJ and Hookworms included, unsure about their futures.

But it was also this tragedy that saw the people of Yorkshire banding together to minimise the damage. Hookworms themselves even held a charity gig to help iconic Hebden Bridge venue The Trades Club get back on its feet. But not as Hookworms; as LCD Soundsystem.

The floods, a last minute cancellation of an important US tour, a number of personal tragedies and this dalliance with LCD Soundsystem cover band status (having also performed this at Brudenell Social Club’s New Year’s Eve party just a few weeks before) seems to have shaped their third full-length album, 'Microshift'. It’s a dark record tonally, but the clearing of the psych fog that permeated their previous two albums almost feels like a clearing of the mind; a band ready to tackle these events head-on.