Green for life!
The Hoosiers
The Trick To Life
(Sony BMG)
By Lennat Mak
Choice Cut : ''Worried About Ray,'' ''Worst Case Scenario,'' ''Goodbye Mr A,'' ''Clinging On For Life''
The moment Irwin Sparkes, vocalist of The Hoosiers, spews out the first line "The truth be told" on The Trick To Life's opener and first single "Worried About Ray," nothing can mask the band's Englishness. It's both the accent and that unmistakable U.K. indie pop vibe that runs through all their songs, tracing their lineage back to past great U.K. bands like The Cure and XTC and modern classics such as the Libertines and Razorlight.
For anglophiles, it's a sound much revered for the past few years. Angular guitar riffs, dance rock beats, and wistful tales of life, existence and romance make The Hoosiers quite the band that fits in well with the current indie music climate. As the tunes -- "Worried About Ray" (a song that reminds one of The Turtles' "Happy Together"), "Worst Case Scenario" and "Goodbye Mr A" -- go by, it's obvious that the Hoosiers have a knack for kicking out those indie anthems laden with catchy melody hooks and jabbing guitar attacks.
But the Hoosiers boys are not just cheeky eager beavers. They can too, be wholesomely sentimental, as evident on the tracks "Run Rabbit Run" and "Clinging On For Life." Sparkes' poignant vocals styling on the slower tunes is also particularly reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, one of the band's main influences, and serves as quite a radical departure from his usual happy-chappy delivery on the rest of the songs.
With a solid album of materials, it's fair to say, the Hoosiers is definitely more than just a flash in the pan. But it's still a long to go if they want to outlast the ever changing fickle nature of music trends.
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