'Keening' is a great word. It's particularly helpful when trying to describe music sometimes The place it takes you to. A way it can make you feel when it cuts beneath the skin. Houndtooth do 'keening' very well. I'm not the first person to think so.I picked up the word from a recent New York Times article about them. Their new album, Little Neon Limelight, is just out, (on Rough Trade Records in the UK).
They're a slight problem to me at the moment as I've just bought and am loving and getting round to write about the new Houndstooth album. It's difficult getting into two 'Hounds' bands at once. Houndstooth have the better name but Houndmouth seem to have a bit more commercial wind in their sails at least for the moment, They've just done David Letterman, have more Facebook likes and Spotify plays if this is how you measure these things. I'd say I prefer Houndstooth but Houndmouth are just fine.
It's not difficult to see why they're getting attention. Their songs are immediately easy to understand. The place they take you to is one where it's forever 1971 and in many respects that's not a bad place to be, Many people thought the World was changing then. Houndmouth never quite break out of this place. They're like Punk never happened and personally I think it's a good idea if you're playing retro sounding music to acknowledge that Punk happened because it needed to. But while the spell lasts they're like a sunny afternoon spent in an American bar knocking back Jack Daniels. As with 1971, there are worse places to be.
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