A, IHN are just lovely boys. I have played shows with them and know them, so I can’t be entirely objective here, but I will do my best. They are two ultra-posi boys from London town who play stripped down folk-punk with a semi-distorted guitar and simple, galloping drum beats. They often get called ‘Against Me! style melodic punk’ or something similar on gig flyers, and clearly they did start out nicking AM! ideas, but after a couple of years touring solidly, they have developed their own sound, and this 5 track EP is the result.
I think that A, IHN are very much a ‘love them or not get them in any way’ kind of a band. They don’t hide behind musicianship and they don’t hide behind slick production. The tracks on offer here are a half and half split between very catchy and more reflective and difficult – they do try and stick in a shout-a-long chorus wherever possible, which is great in my book. The distinctive vocals that they have live are a little bit lost on the record – they come across as a little bit more generic than they actually are when you watch them, but this would still sit nicely on the shelf of anyone who religiously buys No Idea records releases.
The tunes on here which start off acoustic and develop are where the band really shine – because they have the versatility that solo musicians who just have a guitar don’t necessarily have. It’s a bit of a shame that there isn’t more to go on, but less is more and all that shite – which is surely the whole philosophy of the band.
This is not quite a perfect representation of a very fine live duo, but it’s streets ahead of a hell of a lot of pretenders that are doing the rounds right now.
Mike