Hatcham Social disappeared for 3 years following the string of EPs and the album they released between 2007 and 2009, and ‘Like An Animal’ is the first single from their new album, recorded apparently ‘in the hills, in Wales’.
The song begins with some dialogue presumably taken from a werewolf film, “tonight’s the full moon, you’re gonna change”, hearing a haunting, cinematic kind of sample instantly prompts me to start conjuring up all sorts of ideas in my head about the band going a bit more shoegaze, which they’re often confusingly described as. Some droning, moderately distorted guitar emerges, giving me real hope, but unfortunately that guitar soon makes a strange transformation into this inoffensive but pretty drab, jangly indie-pop kind of thing, setting the tone for the whole song quite well. Vague disappointment clouds over me and doesn’t lift.
Admittedly, everything about 'Like An Animal' is very, very catchy. Pleasantly catchy too - there’s nothing bad enough about it which makes it sticking in your head seem like much of a bother. In addition, as is the case with earlier Hatcham Social, it’s telling how effortless, likable and genuine the single is, more intelligence has definitely gone into it than is instantly clear. I do feel quite affectionate towards it, it’s nice, and I almost feel bad to call it generic, but it is.
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The song begins with some dialogue presumably taken from a werewolf film, “tonight’s the full moon, you’re gonna change”, hearing a haunting, cinematic kind of sample instantly prompts me to start conjuring up all sorts of ideas in my head about the band going a bit more shoegaze, which they’re often confusingly described as. Some droning, moderately distorted guitar emerges, giving me real hope, but unfortunately that guitar soon makes a strange transformation into this inoffensive but pretty drab, jangly indie-pop kind of thing, setting the tone for the whole song quite well. Vague disappointment clouds over me and doesn’t lift.
