Portland-based quartet Hockey christened their debut Mind Chaos, and there’s a definite musical schizophrenia – not to mention kleptomania – at work here. The record takes us the melodic route from smoky bars with old-fashioned rock on the juke, onto hipster clubs where the DFA heads DJ, before finishing up at a ‘70s-themed disco. If their influences were any more apparent they’d be signposted in brightest neon.
It begins in brazen fashion, with the core hook of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ transplanted slap bang into the middle of ‘Too Fake’. Don’t get me wrong, déjà vu can be a pleasurable sensation, but it’s also a little unsettling and, at times, Mind Chaos feels too studied. Witness the ramshackle guitar-pop take on The Cars that is ‘Song Away’, the Dylan duplicating ‘Four Holy Photos’, or Strokes-alike of ‘Put The Game Down’.
Still, frontman Ben Grubin has a pleasingly weathered croon, the songs boast more hooks than you’d find on a Japanese whaling vessel and it all motors along with plenty of pep in the engine.