HOOPS
“Honeysuckles”
(Chthonic Records)




Honeysuckles is a structure of field recordings and airy instruments with HOOPS voice dead center guiding you through this world they have created in the style of musique concrète. "Honeysuckles" opens with softly wobbling electronics and an acoustic guitar being plucked into an open abyss. Here we are introduced to our narrator and the theme for the rest of the album. The title track is the story of an old man who is trying to protect his garden from children eating his flowers. A fairly straightforward story which ends in his ascension. Throughout my entire listening I could not help feeling tangled in every soundscape. "Show Me the way to that Old Oyster Bar" is definitely the most driving of the album in regards to a 'traditional' take on music. My two favorite tracks are the closers, "No Shelter for a Kitty Cat", which follows the protagonist waking up to a beautiful day. The story quickly changes when a cat greets our narrator at their window. Our narrator never gets out of bed and transcends into the body of a cat with no where to rest and no where to hide. Again, this track features various field recordings and electronics as its lead and an electric guitar guiding the melody in the background. The closing track "On the Sleepy Side of Things" is a great conclusion to this surreal experience, calmly portraying the end to these adventures for today. The album finally closes with our narrator yawning and snoring away to a drum machine as if to say goodnight.



https://hoops23.bandcamp.com/

https://chthonicrecords.bandcamp.com/

- - Julienne Pasta