Hygiene - Things That Dreams are Made of b/w Fixed Odds Betting Terminal - 7

Labels: La Vida Es Un Mus
Review by: Andy Malcolm

Fuck yeah, more Hygiene. Although I am not quite sure what they’re up to on “Things That Dreams Are Made Of”, with some wildly awful vocals over their stripped back and bare minimum post punk. The vocals are pretty high up in the mix too which caught me off guard. It’s incredibly ramshackle, and perhaps not in as good a way as you’ve come to expect from this band. This is actually a Human League cover but I would have no idea about that. Comes across as all a bit of a jest, which is fine I guess but perhaps not the kind of thing you’d want to commit to vinyl?! Great locked groove at the end mind you. Either that or my needle is fucked, but it’s so spot on that I will assume that’s not the case. Flip it for “Fixed Odds Betting Terminal” which is more of what I would “demand” from this band, solving the issues I had from the other side and nailing their bleak post punk sound again. It spins off into some muddled sections but the moments where the guitar gets driving are spot on (especially as they sound a bit Moss Icon).

Overall this is not their best stuff, but I’m always happy to have some Hygiene on the record player.