Hooray For Earth - Momo Review
Posted by Mac Scarle on 03.02.2010
East Coast indie newcomers self-release a new EP - is it good enough to get them noticed?
Tracklist:
1.Surrounded By Your Friends
2.Comfortable, Comparable
3.Get Home
4.Scaling
5.Form
Hooray For Earth are a quartet made up of Gary Benacquista, Joseph Ciampini, Chris Principe and Noel Heroux that call New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts their home. Late last year they released the five-track EP Momo, putting it out exclusively through emusic.com – a site I had never heard of until now but it seems like a pretty nice thing they have going over there.
As a master of snap judgments, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this EP simply because I'm not a big fan of the name Hooray For Earth. Thankfully, my fears were misplaces as this is, quite simply, an excellent little record. Momo opens with the keyboard and tambourine-driven “Surrounded By Your Friends.” The song sets the tone for the entire EP perfectly, with its glittering production, reverb-soaked vocals, and just a pretty delightfully smile-inducing vibe. As hokey as it might sound, very few bands are able to bring a smile to my face lately, but several times over the course of Momo I found myself breaking into a grin
“Comfortable, Comparable” is a more dancey track accentuated with a synth riff that is more than a little reminiscent of 90's house music, with a sweeping chorus. The guitar solo in “Comfortable...” is a bit early, but not totally out of place, and the guitar tone is just dirty enough to provide a good contrast with the rest of the song. Despite clocking in at just about six minutes, the song never drags, keeping up the energy despite a mostly instrumental final two minutes.
“Get Home” and “Scaling” see a slight change in feel from the preceding songs. “Get Home” is a significantly darker and more rhythmically stilted song, until the chorus which builds into typical lushly layered chorus, complimented by an almost spaghetti-western sounding guitar riff, with the song culminating in around ten seconds of industrial white noise building into the next track, “Scaling.” This is probably the only song that I can say I'm not totally pleased with on Momo - it sticks out pretty sharply from everything around it. Its multi-tracked pitch-distorted vocals are grating (intentionally, I'm sure), and ride over the top of a chaotic instrumental backing. The instrumentation is just as lush as ever, but the harsh vocals somewhat ruin the trippy vibe of the song by making it, if anything, too trippy. The rest of the record is somewhat conventional dreamy indie-pop, and this just comes off as very abrasive by comparison.
“Form” closes out the EP, and it maintains the same shiny, dreamy feel of the rest of the album while bringing out a more rock-oriented sound. At three minutes flat, it's the shortest song on the record, and quite frankly I could've listened to it for another two or three minutes. Nothing – not even “Scaling” really drags on this record, which is pretty surprising. The guitar/synth lead in “Form” is simple but pretty, providing a pretty fitting ending soundtrack to the EP.
I had never heard of Hooray For Earth before I was sent this record to review, and none of my friends who I've mentioned them too haven't either. Odds are – if there is any good sense in this world – this will change. There isn't a huge amount of innovation or originality on Momo, but Hooray for Earth are excellent at what they do – making lush indie music with pop sensibilities. Check this one out for sure.
The 411: Even with the shortcomings of "Scaling," this is an excellent EP. The instrumentation is consistently beautiful, with track upon track layered perfectly, all complimented by the reverbed-out vocals which at times are almost Beach Boys-esque. Hooray For Earth are still unsigned, and that may be why Momo almost sounds like a band showcasing everything that they can do musically - from traditional modern indie to more dance-driven songwriting and darker elements. From the tracks on this EP, Hooray For Earth can pretty much do just about anything. Highly recommended.
