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Jan 05, 2016 Web Exclusive By Billy Hamilton

You’ve probably heard Hinds’ brand of fuzzy garage pop a thousand times before. The Madrid-dwelling quartet’s ramshackle, lush melodies hark back to historic indie merchants such as The Shop Assistants and The Sonics, while generating a shrill ambiance associated with more modern tykes like Wavves or Psychedelic Horseshit. Whatever they are and whoever they sound like, Hinds really are nothing new.

Whether this lack of originality actually matters is debatable. Their debut album sloshes with infectious summer pop sentiment that jangles and jaunts through “Chili Town” and the drunken frolic of “Davey Crockett.” It’s hardly high-brow listening, but that’s part of its charm; these songs stagger and stumble along, capable of falling down at any given moment.

Most impressive is the band’s ability to make a tune out of the seemingly tuneless. In particular “Garden” feels like it’s built on a foundation of strangled cats, yet it’s an absolute triumph, while “San Diego” squawks and squeals to a thrilling melodic maelstrom of unsynchronized guitar and harmonies. It sounds as superb as it does unlikely.

While much of the record feels bandaged together, coordinated sounds like the breezy “Castigadas En El Granero” suggest more nuanced possibilities to come. But for now, it’s worth embracing the retrograde, sticky-taped songs of Leave Me Alone for what they are: nothing new, but still a little bit special. (www.hindsband.com)

Author rating: 7/10