HOO ★★★ We Shall Never Speak

BIG POTATO. CD/DL/LP

Innovations in electronic folk shoegaze; line-up now has Slowdive’s Neil Halstead.

Expanded from the duo that gave us the psych-dronedreampop of 2019 debut

Centipede Wisdom, HOO now includes guitarist Neil Halstead, folkie Jackie Oates and Beachwood Sparks’ weird-beard Farmer Dave Scher alongside the project’s singular constant, Nick Holton. All the former HOO hallmarks remain intact: vintage-sounding synths, motorik beats (if there are any at all) and a decidedly postrock approach to composition.

We Shall Never Speak, however, comes with added song structure (although still little in the way of conventional choruses), space age squiggles, hazy vocals and the occasional Europop keyboard riff. And it works, albeit in some very mysterious ways, hypnotically drawing you into its shimmering, pearlescent textures as ’50s sci-fi meets peak Reading shoegaze. Dislocating and somehow always just out of reach, it’s an ideal soundtrack for the new normal.

Andy Fyfe