…of Colonial Drones
…as catchy as each song can be, what grew on me is how they all mesh into a cohesive whole.
It’s this open-minded and open-ended approach that has made HTH one of Boston’s most prized pop possessions. We’re not likely to hear a local album that trumps the wonders of Colonial Drones anytime soon.
Colonial Drones, as the title aptly suggests, is a work full of fantasy-like explorations, laden with anthemic choruses and lyrics freely open for interpretation.
It doesn't take long to realize this album is something extra special.
There is an element of cacaphony in Prepare to Qualify, but it keeps you guessing. It keeps you captivated all the while wondering, “Why in the hell am I so interested?” Just keep listening - it’ll hit you eventually, and I guarantee you’ll keep coming back to it.
…of Collective Psychosis Begone
It's the sound of music without limits, made by a band reveling in its own vast creative potential and the cumulative collision of its early influences.
There’s something intimate about this album — it feels as if you’re in a room with these guys, and they laugh at your jokes, and they play a few songs, and you applaud, then you all go out and get drunk together.
The band's ensemble structure (cello, trumpet, and melodica) and learned lyricism echoes the stage-packing sounds of Arcade Fire, Danielson, Bright Eyes, and Decemberists, while its shambolic, maximalist barroom aura recalls Robert Pollard, another songwriter infrequently at a loss for words.
Boston's own Hallelujah the Hills wrapped up a five week tour and were tighter than Glenn Beck's throbbing forehead vein.
[The Silver Jews] followed an energetic set from Hallelujah the Hills — loud and non-showy with six dudes on stage including a trumpeter, a cellist, and a thunderous drummer who pounds with such force he’s regularly launched off his stool.
Rarely do entire albums translate successfully as live setlists, but Hallelujah the Hills proved that their debut Collective Psychosis Begone is an exception to the rule Saturday night at the Middle East Upstairs. Breezing through the ebbs and flows of the excellent album like grizzled veterans, Ryan Walsh and his bandmates treated the crowd to a commanding performance.