Singles You Should Buy #4: The Hillfields – A Visit
They sound like every indie band you’ve ever imagined. Sarah Records are mentioned as an influence on their MySpace page and it hardly comes as a surprise, having heard the music, even down to the Morrissey-esque vocals. Imagine a classic, slightly twee indie band writing the soundtrack to a particularly scenic, sweeping art house movie and you’re pretty much there.
So given the sound is hardly anything new it all comes down to one thing: are the tunes any good? Is it memorable – does it stick? Well for me the answer is a resounding yes.  It may not be aggressively hooky nor, in some ways, immediately arresting, but there’s a gentle rise and roll to the sound, and the steady, wistful vocal just compels you to sway gently along.
A Visit is being released by the stupendously good Cloudberry Records and I really urge you to buy it. Firstly, you’ll be supporting one of the best DIY musical enterprises around, and secondly, the more success The Hillfields get then the more we will hear from them. And I, for one, want to hear lots lots more. If you concur and live in London the get along to the Cloudberry gig on Friday 29th February for a little bit of Hillfields action, plus three more Cloudberry favourites, none of whom I’ve actually heard of!
The Hillfields – The Front Room[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/TheHillfields-TheFrontRoom.mp3]
I like these Toad.
S’up to you, but I’m happy to play them if you don;t get round to it in your first Recommended.
If I record it this weekend is that any use to you? Four tracks?
cool & the gang
Oh yes indeed. That’s good. The Sarah Records connection does jump out, especially the Orchids, although the Hillfields vocals are less fragile, at least on this track.