While their last album, 2023's Cartwheel, was much loved around here, how does the new Hotline TNT record compare? Raspberry Moon is out this Friday. It's different but energetic in spots, to start.
"Was I Wrong?" is a Dinosaur Jr.-ish number with a twang about it. The drawl in the vocals -- the West-by-way-of-Brooklyn? -- juxtaposes nicely with the squall of the guitars, though the cut pleases in ways utterly unlike those of the last record from this lot. "The Scene" works up some energy, though the vibe is like that of a lot of mid-Nineties alt rock bands on this side of the Atlantic, while lead single "Julia's War" is even more removed from the charms of this group's 2023 effort. There's something a bit generic going on here, and no matter how much you turn up the guitars, that feeling is just not easy to shake.
To their credit, Hotline TNT keep things moving on Raspberry Moon. "Letter to Heaven", a real gem, has a hook like both Pixies and Swervedriver, and yet the cut is enjoyably more mainstream in its construction. Similarly, "Dance the Night Away" suggests that this group can successfully harness their obvious affection for Sonic Youth and early, early Pavement into a talent for finding a hook that makes that sort of noise rock into a far more accessible proposition for lots of listeners. Hotline TNT do this sort of thing very well, of course, and with more numbers like these two and it's fair to say that this album wouldn't seem like a step down from Cartwheel. As it is, Raspberry Moon isn't going to earn any comparisons to Swirlies like the last one did. and maybe it's just me, but I feel like I've heard lots of this before. That said, there are moments here that work very well, and there are certainly pleasures to be had here in small doses. Hotline TNT may have served up the first album tailor-made for dissecting and parsing onto mixes or playlists, not for listening to all at once.
Raspberry Moon by Hotline TNT is out on Friday via Third Man Records.
[Photo: Graham Tolbert]