Hookworms are a five-piece band from Leeds playing krautrock-inspired music mixing with garage and psychedelia along the way. One of the members also plays in Spectrals, but unlike the reverb-heavy twinkling guitar output of Louis Jones, Hookworms opt for long, psychedelic dreamy numbers full of squalling guitars and droney bass lines.
The band’s four track EP begins with ‘Medicine Cabinet’, which emerges through a wall of feedback and develops into a sporadic tapestry of massive crescendos through a blanket of fuzz. The distorted and slightly sinister bassline could have easily been taken from Spacemen 3 while the vocal yelps are reminiscent of PiL with added delay effects. The opening track gives a sense of how huge a sound Hookworms are aiming for, resting somewhere between Spiritualized and Sonic Youth.
‘Teen Dreams’ continues seamlessly from where ‘Medicine Cabinet’ leaves off, blending into the consistent bassline that holds the blasts of distortion and drum explosions together. Things start to get a lot more trippy about half way through the track as a wailing guitar line accompanies the motorized beat. The track almost spirals out of control before it returns to an organ-backed moment of recovery but there’s not much time for resting here as the song soon explodes back into a flailing wall of huge symbols and squealing guitar riffs.
‘I Have Some Business Out West’ includes a ghostly swirl of wah-guitars that drift and float throughout the track with a vocal rant that appears low in the mix. Although the lyrics are relatively hard to decipher, there is a strong sense of angst and purpose to them creating a feeling of uneasiness and aggression. The track conjures up hallucinogenic images as the guitars once again produce waves of noise and far-out piercing guitar riffs not afraid of using an effect or two.
‘Resolution’ clocks in at 8:41, building up from a slightly stagnated melody into a thumping hurricane of noise and destruction, before the storm is over and we're returned to a gentle and soothing state to close the EP.
It is an accomplished and intriguing listen that is spontaneous and driven. The EP lasts for 26 minutes, containing only four songs, so it may not be one for the casual music fan, but it’s pretty doubtful that Hookworms are aiming for airplay on daytime radio. It’ll be very exciting to see what magic the band can conjure up next and also to see how this gigantic sound translates live.