Hum - Inlet Review

One genre I feel I haven't explored enough is shoegaze. I love big names like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, as well as subgenres influenced by the droning guitars and feedback-laden walls of noise like doomgaze and blackgaze. After much research, I can identify the other big names in shoegaze, like Ride, Swervedriver, Cocteau Twins, and many more, yet until this past week, I have never heard of Hum. From what I can tell, they were a pretty big deal in the 90s, even seeing some moderate success on charts with a hit single or two. Performing on MTV, The Howard Stern Show and much more, Hum completely flew under my obsessions with Tool, Slipknot, Nirvana, and all of the other 90s group that defined my music taste in the early years of its exploration. The strange thing, however, is that their early stuff was way less shoegaze-based than Inlet, and more Smashing Pumpkins meets Deftones with fuzz turned up to 11. Listening to their 1995 release You'd Prefer An Astronaut, there are some super heavy alternative metal moments while the rest sounds like a toned-down and less jammy version of what Elder performs today.

Fret not, however, as Inlet keeps the interesting sound Hum cultivated alive, while, in my uninformed opinion, improving on their formula over 20 years since their last release. Yes, this is a comeback release, but you can't tell. The performances on each of these eight tracks are amazingly tight and wonderfully engaging. Pulling back their sound in terms of intensity really helps this album create the shoegaze tag that it is given, even from the opening moments on the album. "Waves" begins with a drum fill that is almost mixed lower than it is in the rest of the song, and eases us into the fuzzy, down-tempo space rock that follows. The earlier comparison to Elder really sticks, and the stoner vibes given off of this release are maybe unintentionally the record's strongest feat. But this sonic web Hum weaves is one of the most unique I have ever heard, working with a shoegaze-esque wall of noise, stoner metal riffs, and alt-rock songwriting tropes. Added onto this is the amazing lead guitar tones, which mostly consists of heavy reverb that results in what sounds to me like an extremely atmospheric synthesizer out of an album like Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. So well placed in the mix, it fades in and out of the foreground, giving the rest of the instrumentation plenty of ear-time. 

These aspects really shine on the lengthier cuts of the record, like “Desert Rambler” and “Folding,” where the band can truly let their expansive palate shine, channeling an inner Dopesmoker it probably didn’t know it had. But these cuts are also very dynamic, often pulling back with atmospheric guitars and hypnotizing vocals courtesy of Matt Talbott, before jumping right back into the relatively heavy chugging that makes up the majority of songs on this release. The contrast between the guitar tones comes up again here, and for good reason, as it is responsible for the compelling sound this group puts out. The textures are so warm, so inviting and so controlled; Hum is not trying to be heavy, and they aren’t trying to not be either. The band is completely aware of what sound they want, and there is little experimentation here to show for it. Most of Inlet is just one note, but that doesn’t take away from the music one bit. Like Duster (another 90s band whose comeback album after over 20 years was phenomenal), this group does what they know, and they do it perfectly.

Even though this album is relatively stagnant sonically, the track list flies through its near hour runtime with no hesitation. There are no interludes, downtime, or anything of the sort. Inlet is just business. For a non-metal album (with some pretty strong influences from across the genre’s umbrella), this album goes surprisingly hard on tracks like “The Summoning,” where the riffs are a cross between menacing and curious, almost as if an astronaut were trekking across the surface of a distant planet covered in desert while heavily intoxicated. A sense of serene wonder always runs through my head during this album, as the entire wants me to zone out and feel the music itself. It’s truly amazing what Hum does on this release, and I am glad it is getting the popular attention it deserves. I think it has gone without saying, but this album is skyrocketing its way up my favorite albums of the year list with no stops planned and is, at this point, the best of its class in 2020.

Final Verdict: 'Through the ether and on to home'

Favorite Tracks: “The Summoning,” “Shapeshifter,” “Desert Rambler”

FFO: Swervedriver, Year of the Rabbit, Failure

Track List:

1. "Waves"

2. "In The Den"
3. "Desert Rambler"

4. "Step into You"

5. "The Summoning"

6. "Cloud City"

7. "Folding"

8. "Shapeshifter"

You can support Hum on their Bandcamp.