Hooton Tennis Club – Highest Point In Cliff Town

Scatchy yet tuneful indie fare...

Given that they sound like a cross between Parquet Courts, Lee Ranaldo's solo stuff and Daniel Johnston, it's hard to believe that Hooton Tennis Club are from Cheshire and Merseyside.

Knowing that they had former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones produce the album at Parr Street Studios helps, though, and if the recordings are anything to go by, it sounds like they had a lot of fun together. The band, who have been friends since secondary school, have a cheeky, youthful exuberance to their music and appear not to take themselves too seriously – and this comes through outright on ‘Highest Point In Cliff Town’.

On 'I'm Not Going Roses Again', the Wirral newcomers howl like wolves before breaking out into a guitar solo, making the album feel off the cuff and improvisatory, like a perfect stumble. In effect, it’s the ideal music for the Ray Ban-touting Primavera Sound crowd, who avoid anything too mainstream but do need enough hooks to keep them tapping their converse.

Ryder-Jones has also managed to capture a sense of what they're like as a live band in the recording – ‘HPICT’ makes you want to catch them on a stage near you, where they're likely to loosen up even the hippest audience member.

While perhaps ramshackle in their approach, they're impressive songwriters with summery observational lyrics. Album highlight 'Always Coming Back 2 You' feels much closer to classic English guitar pop and dream pop than it does their fixation with US garage.

Although their dedication to US indie has helped spur this album onto the shelves quicker than they would have otherwise, thanks to the quasi-improvisational approach that permeates the school of thought in DIY circles. Impressively it's under a year after they signed to Heavenly and they've already released this very honest, charming slice of garage-pop. That deserves a pat on the back.

7/10

Words: Cai Trefor

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