What does it mean to be happy and relaxed? Self-fulfillment isn’t easy nowadays, but god how hard we try to make it happen. Reminiscing the old days and how peaceful they were, how things made sense and were simple, no worries conveyed. Musical melodies made sense back then, they held a place and meaning in our hearts, and seemingly Hyooman delivered that sentiment once again.
From Minneapolis, United States; Hyooman release their debut album titled “Pilot”. The alternative rock/ Indie rock band is heavily inspired by The Strokes, Alex G, and Weezer (Specially Pinkerton & Blue Album) as the band stated.
“The name “Pilot” refers to the first episode in a television series to test audience reaction before they produce a season. This album is our “Pilot” so to speak – since this is our debut album.” Hyooman stated.
Hyooman are Leng Moua (songwriter, vocals, guitar), McCoy Seitz (drums, vocals), Victor Pokorny (guitar, vocals), Elise Bremer (keys, vocals), and Dillon Marchus (bass).
The inspiration of The Strokes is heavily touched in tracks like Discourse, So Proud, I Feel Fine, Month End, and In A Bad Way. Specially in guitar solos as if Nick Valensi is the one playing not Victor Pokorny.
“Pilot” has a special musical theme of joy accompanied with peace and calm nights, which layers its theme upon your mind just as you let it through your ears. Leng Moua’s vocals are smooth, dreamy, and subdue the listeners synced with delayed guitar and keyboard melodies.
Instruments are highly expressive along with the vocals; guitar riffs and melodies perfectly deliver the state and general vibe of the tracks and work efficiently in delivering the peacefulness thanks to Pokorny’s exquisite solos and Moua’s incredible riffs.
“Pilot covers a variety of themes we experience in the modern day: frustrations with social media, existential dread, finding yourself in an age of mass information and algorithms, capitalism, introspection, and nostalgia. Sonically, we did not dwell in technical precision and recorded live as much as possible to capture the human spirit. We wanted to produce an album that felt honest and sincere.” The band stated.
The album has a dramatic end to it, with a track titled “Sometimes” in which the sound fades out just before the final quarter of the track which makes you believe that the album is over, yet it then fades in once again with the same guitar and keyboard chords it faded out with previously in a dramatic motion that it might break your heart delivering the sentiment of someone dear turning their backs and walking away, but in a blink, you hear their footsteps running back to you screaming “I can’t do it.” That is how dramatic it felt to me.
I guess I’m having quite a number of new favorite tracks added to my playlists after listening to this record. Also, I liked the band’s name Hyooman as it reminds me of that meme-generated English when a dog tries to speak and talk to a “Hyooman” for instance. Haha!
I also noticed that sometimes the vocals’ pitch is lower than the one of the instruments, which may have caused ambiguity in lyrical delivery.
One of the strangest things that I found about the album, is that the band had tapes of it! I mean like why! For the love of tapes, WHY! The record isn’t retro-themed, bearing in mind that no one uses tapes currently in the whole world! So I’m actually asking myself, who is the band trying to sell their tapes to? If you have an answer please provide us with it down in the comment section, and don’t forget to rate the album!
