If you were at Mercury Lounge on March 31st around 1030pm you were not alone. The place was teeming with industry types eager to check out what has all the makings of a breakthrough band. WIth only four songs and already a 15 month hiatus and a change in name, Spain’s Hinds fka Deer are one of those bands that indie labels long for and college and high school kids flock to.
Deer started in 2011 as Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote on vocals and guitar and added Ade Martín on bass, changed their name to Hinds and added Ade Martín on bass and Amber Gimbergen on drums in 2014. The two singles(EPs? but only two songs per EP) “Demo” featuring the guitar based duo, and “Barn” featuring the full band are big time and complete already. From Lo Fi to would be girl group, it is small and a little cluttered in the mix but the songs don’t take a moment to kick in.
“Demo” is really pretty big sounding for a duo, “Bamboo” is so good it almost flies at you and so sticky the hook is glued on before you know what hit you. “Trippy Gumm” less so, here the lack of production values Hinders them a little. The band sing in English so don’t let the title of tempo shifting “Castigadas En El Granero” off “Barn” confuse you and be darn sure that any band from Madrid that sings in English has its ambitions.
All of this helps and while having four attractive women in a band might not be a ticket to success, well, it didn’t hurt the Bangles, who, in at least the deep melodic tangledness, if not the power pop, is an antecedent to these guys. I don’t know if they’re any good live (I missed the Mercury Lounge gig) but, geez, aren’t they adorable?