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TENDERHOOKS - SLAP HAPPY
Slap Happy / Tied On A String / Eco Warrior / It Don't Get Any Easier
WHITE LABEL
Tenderhooks are an outfit perhaps best described as a low budget version of Gorillaz, with the same premise of animated identity and genre hopping musical vision but without quite the same levels of imagination, fun, ideas or talent judging by latest single SLAP HAPPY.
A song based around a vaguely infectious chorus, SLAP HAPPY comes on as more annoying than catchy; a novelty track that leaves you cold and unimpressed. The superior sounding ECO WARRIOR is a move in more impressive directions, Tenderhooks taking in prog rock and post-punk, echoes of Julian Cope or Magazine beating at the songs heart, whilst TIED ON A STRING is a middling slice of indie rock taking cues from both the Super Furry Animals and ELO. Elsewhere IT DON'T GET ANY EASIER is a big band jazz pastiche that seems to be attempting some kind of Gnarls Barkley like crossover pop action, Tenderhooks unfortunately though just trying too hard; losing that effortless pop cool that you need to pull it all off.
It's this feeling of a band trying too hard that beats at the heart of the Tenderhooks experience, seemingly throwing a bunch of half baked ideas at the wall and hoping something will stick. Whilst the songs here hint at bigger and better things sometime in the future, SLAP HAPPY is an unconvincing and sloppy sounding EP that unfortunately fails to impress.
BIOGRAPHY
Tenderhooks was an idea thought-up 6 years ago by Markus Leinweber; but it took until signing up at BIMM (Brighton Institute of Modern Music) in a song-writing diploma in 2002, for Markus to meet Mike Wilton - Mike proved to be a talented guitarist and songwriter in his own right and together they put together what would become the Tenderhooks of today.
The character of Tenderhooks (the figure on the packaging) was later created by a Steve Thornton, a gifted illustrator and animator to add an identity of the band. The mysterious figure has inspiration from the renowned animated band Gorillaz and is always growing into bigger realms.
November 2005 saw the release of the debut album DEVIL RIDES WHITE HORSES. Steve created the first 30 second animation for the title track which was sent out across the internet. A second animation was launched on the website in the spring of 2006 for the release of the superb second song on the album JEALOUS LOVE.
2006 saw a new member to the band behind Tenderhooks, Phil Saatchi (yes, one of the famous Saatchi brothers!), who has co-produced the second album. The release of ECO WARRIOR, almost a year to the day of the debut album release, is Markus' masterpiece thus far. Taking hints of post-punk, classic rock and Pink Floyd style ambience, ECO WARRIORS is intelligent indie at its best.
LINE UP
Markus Leinweber
Mike Wilton
DISCOGRAPHY
SLAP HAPPY (2007)
Slap Happy
Tied On A String
Eco Warrior
It Don't Get Any Easier
LINKS
Tenderhooks>www.tenderhooks.info
FURTHER LISTENING
Gorillaz
Super Furry Animals
ELO
Review date: January 2007 |
