Hooton Tennis Club - Big Box Of Chocolates

Rating:

A glowing reminder of just how fun and energising a great guitar band can be.

Hooton Tennis Club’s debut record ‘Highest Point In Cliff Town’ was a ramshackle, unadulterated ride through garage indie’s glorious roots. It jumped around like a box of frogs, so you can imagine what their ‘Big Box Of Chocolates’ holds - a matured and smooth record full of sweet highs and refined bursts of frantic energy that builds and rejigs ‘Highest Point’s’ most fruitful moments.

It’s most noticeable in the crooning pulls of ‘Sit Like Ravi’ and ‘O Man Won’t You Melt Me’, perfect for gliding over winter nights with the sing-along potential of bonafide pub at closing time classics. On ‘Bad Dream (Breakdown On St George’s Mount)’ and ‘Katy-Anne Bellis’ they sound like a band reborn, deadly intent on delivering tasty pop nuggets whilst ‘Bootcut Jimmy The G’ is drenched in another swagger and charm to make them festival favourites in no time. That notable punchy kick of their debut lives on though, if in a more concise and direct form in ‘Statue Of The Greatest Woman I Know’ and ‘Lazers Linda’ - if anything a glowing example of the band they’re destined to become. and still packing the spikiness of their debut.

While ‘Highest Point In Cliff Town’ burst in your face with unfiltered youthful vigour, ‘Big Box Of Chocolates’ is the succinct and delectable main course from a band with the potential to soundtrack many a drunken indie night out for years to come. Their freedom in youthful expression is a glowing reminder of just how fun and energising a great guitar band can be, and makes ‘Big Box Of Chocolates’ a vital release. Jamie Muir