Hinds - VIVA HINDS Review
Hinds are back, and it looks like they’re here to stay.
Close friendships can make or break a band. Joey and Johnny Ramone had completely opposing political views and were involved in a messy love triangle, but somehow managed to play alongside one another for over 20 years. The Libertines had to break up multiple times due to Carl Barât and Pete Doherty’s clashes, but have kissed and made up and now seem stronger than ever. Hinds have similarly faced their fair share of obstacles over their 13 year existence. But through it all, the bond between founding members Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote – self-confessed “millionaires in friendship” – has never broken, and acts as proof of what can be achieved when two best pals set their sights on a united goal.
Starting out all the way back in 2011 under the name “Deers”, Cosials and Perrote formed their DIY garage rock sound, and with the pair screaming out distorted yet catchy hooks together in their early live shows, they quickly developed a loyal fanbase. Recruiting Ade Martin on bass and Amber Grimbergen on drums, things were going swimmingly for Deers – until they were served a cease and desist by a more established band with a similar name. Hinds bounced right back though as Hinds, declaring “OKAY!!! LET’S TAKE THIS WITH A SMILE”. Their energetic stage presence, paired with their relentless work ethic (14 shows in 4 days earlier this year at SXSW), earned them countless festival slots and global tours supporting the likes of Coldplay, The Strokes, The Vaccines and 5SOS.
Then 2020 arrived. Despite the success of their album The Prettiest Curse, Hinds entered a creative rut. Like many artists, Covid lockdowns heavily impacted their touring revenue, but they also had to deal with a management and label split. To top it all off, Martin and Grimbergen decided to leave the band in 2023.
Setbacks like this would be the nail in the coffin for most bands. Not Hinds. “We just looked at each other and were like, ‘Look, nothing else can go wrong. So let’s just do what we can with what we have,’” Perrote told Rolling Stone. “As soon as we had that mindset, things started happening.” As a creative reset, they hunkered down in the middle of nowhere in rural France – where it was so quiet they could record with the windows wide open – and revisited old notebooks to determine what Hinds is all about and what their next project should be like. The result, Viva Hinds (produced by former Vaccines drummer, Pete Robertson) is a raw, honest, confident return for the duo, exploring emotions that Cosials and Perrote have faced both individually and as a pair.
The opener, “Hi How are you” feels like Hinds finally catching up with their fans again, who’ve waited four years for new music (the longest gap in the band’s history). The Hinds fanbase were responsible for the album title, chanting “Viva Hinds!” at many of their gigs throughout the years, and the band clearly appreciate their enduring support despite the many obstacles they’ve faced (they recently hosted a listening party for the fans on Bandcamp to celebrate the release). Cosials and Perrote trade lines back and forth, before coming together to scream out the chorus. As is often the case with Hinds’ vocals, their friendship shines through, and you can easily imagine them both jumping around wildly as they record. This, along with the chugging, fuzzy guitar, sets the tone for what’s to come – punchy riffs and immediately-memorable hooks. “Superstar” is another track tailor-made for a festival setting, with a sea of people swaying about on shoulders singing along to “good job, now you’re a local superstar!”.
Viva Hinds is sonically varied, though. Cosials calls “The Bed, The Room, The Rain and You”, one of her personal favourites in the band’s whole discography. It’s a twinkly, dreampop love song reminiscent of Wolf Alice’s “Don’t Delete the Kisses”, and with it being positioned second in the track listing, Hinds are making it clear early on that Viva Hinds might venture away from their normal sound at times. The track “On My Own” starts off with a rough, distorted first take of the opening verse, before launching into the fully-produced version – a brief throwback to Hinds’ earlier albums like Leave Me Alone and I Don’t Run, where their sound was more lo-fi and DIY.
Despite their close bond, Cosials and Perrote are still happy to get in some outside friends for the occasional feature. Along with Beck – who joins for “Boom Boom Back”, one of the album’s first singles – they also have Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten onboard for “Stranger”. It’s one of the calmer moments on Viva Hinds – nostalgic post-punk that’s perfectly suited to Chatten’s voice. Chatten is a long-time pal of the band, and this collab comes at the perfect time with Fontaines D.C.’s latest record Romance releasing recently.
Viva Hinds is Cosials and Perrote speaking from the heart and doing things on their own terms. On “Coffee”, they confess all the things they love, but are told they shouldn’t (“black coffee and cigarettes / and flowers from boys that I’m not sleeping with”). This defiant attitude continues in “En Forma”, the penultimate track, which also acts as the album’s triumphant crescendo – not just because of the subject matter (the everyday worries of women in today’s society), but also because it’s the first song Hinds have written entirely in their native tongue. “We can be ourselves and can find our writer personalities in Spanish,” They said in their interview with NME. “Now that we’re obviously more conscious and have more people listening to our songs, we were like. ‘Fuck no – we can do this’.”
In the final track, the chill “Bon Voyage”, Hinds “let the world spin around… hold on together”, and wave goodbye to their creative struggles, their career hurdles, their past doubts. Viva Hinds is an example of how a band can continue to grow and develop deep into their career. It’s a celebration of identity, a confirmation that, by remaining “millionaires in friendship”, nothing can stand in their way. Here’s hoping the next record doesn’t take another four years!