Labels: La Vida Es Un Mus
Review by: Andy Malcolm
After a slew of quality singles, Hygiene eventually drop a debut LP, and I eventually review it. If you’re already familiar with the sevens, then you should be more than at home with this record as it deftly builds on their sound to produce a cohesive long player. Hygiene are firmly rooted in their sound and vision of the turn of the 80s, what with the artwork depicting Telecom Tower and the back photo of 4 less than chirpy looking fellows standing at the foot of a tower block that looks closer to the obelisk in 2001 than it does a livable space. The utilitarian production further enhances their bleak sonic emmissions, muddying the vocals and thinly smearing the rhythms. It sounds like a battered VHS recording of a snotty old post punk band who sound track pictures of kids flicking Vs, Class 37 diesel trains chugging, miners striking, football fans clashing… and other such visual images that my clouded mind associates with my very early days on planet earth. The song titles give you a pretty straight forward picture themselves with titles like “Polytechnic St” and “O-Level Girl”. Of particular note is spoken word closer “A Passion for Administration” which runs through a job description and application for a typical office administration job, a “career” that once embarked upon, can be awfully difficult to extricate ones self from. Kind of surprised that there aren’t any lyrics included in this LP mind you.
I know nothing of Hygiene’s influences, I am not entirely sure I even care. This is 2011, not 1981 and I’ll leave such knowledge to the cool guys. I do know that this is a solid slice of punk rock that I am quite happy to have spinning around and around. It may prove a difficult listen for some with the wilfully retrograde recording process and unsettling brooding that Hygiene engage in, but it strikes a chord with me, and the general haplessness and hopelessness is what punk is best fitted for, rather than an often complacent genre used purely as a soundtrack for dudes hanging out with other dudes.