Montreal rockers make patience pay off
Hoan offers lustrous exercise in the art of restraint on debut EP Modern Phase
What’s the deal? Admittedly, Hoan has only been a band for, like, two years. But given how sculptedly ready-for-the-spotlight the quartet sounds on its spring-released debut EP, Modern Phase, the fact that it moves within certain well-regarded Coolsville circles in its native Montreal and the lightspeed rate at which “buzz” tends to perpetuate across the interweb these days, it nevertheless stands as a bit of a puzzle that word on its quick-to-blossom talents hasn’t really gotten around yet.
That said, Hoan is a pretty patient band. Maybe it’s simply biding its time. Modern Phase is certainly a lustrous exercise in the art of restraint: seven tracks’ worth of languid, Krautrock-schooled repetition for which “payoff” consists of little more than a gradual, subtle crowding of urgency into the mix and the concurrent uptick in energy that goes along with it before — sigh — we’re on to the next tune.
At least, that is, until a 24-second interlude slyly titled “Turbotime” finally gives way to the equally slyly (and probably not accidentally) titled “Poise,” which turns out to be exactly the bring-the-house-down number you’d suspected Hoan was holding back from the very second you heard frontman Alex Nicol utter “substance” as the first word on the album minutes earlier during “Technocrats.”
Such careful sequencing does indeed smack of poise. That said, Hoan’s overall vibe is actually a bit closer to the late, great Broadcast’s fuzzy-headed electro-take on midperiod Pink Floyd and the sort of ’80s post-punk reveries fellow suppressed shoegazers Merchandise were conjuring on 2014’s After the End than the maybe-knowing/maybe-not (but probably knowing) Joy Division/New Order reference above implies. The band has the definite beginnings of its own thing going on, helped along in part by the defiantly bookish manner in which Nicol delivers his lyrics (“She screams to me through the mist on her balcony window pane”), so you might as well opt into the ride early. Sum up what you do in a few simple sentences Per Nicol: “Hoan can be perceived as a combination of many different styles and feelings. An average set could feature a collage of pop or postpunk music, some electronic elements, maybe a little bit of noise music. Even disco at times. Perhaps the best way to describe what we do is post-punk erotica — but that comes from someone else.” What’s a song I need to hear right now? “Poise.” Apologies for prematurely giving away the moment Hoan finally gives it all up on Modern Phase, but trust me when I say the moment is even sweeter when it comes at the end of the full ride. Where can I see them play? At the Monarch Tavern on Saturday, with CO/NTRY and Dorothea Paas as part of the Camp Wavelength Warm-Up Party.