Review:

HUMDRUM - Every Heaven (Slumberland Records)

Chicago’s Humdrum has just released their debut album “Every Heaven” out now via the immaculate Slumberland Records. It seems Slumberland continues to “crush it” with each of the label’s releases keeping pace with the last. With Slumberland releasing notable albums from The Reds, Pinks & Purples to Chime School to The Neutrals, to Lightheaded this year alone… Humdrum is the latest entry to add to your must-haves. It is simply put … a heart on your sleeve, jingle jangle gem.

Every Heaven is a celebration of 80’s and 90’s underground indie guitar and all the “feels” that come with it. I can’t help but listen to Every Heaven as a celebration of indie pop’s heroes past, from New Order, The Cure (at their happiest), Psychedelic Furs to the Pale Saints. Even oughts darlings and Slumberland label mates The Pains of Being Pure Of Heart... get some nods. The obssesive listener can break out their headphones and start connecting the dots to their favourite albums.

Rarely am I drawn to music by the album art, but that was the catalyst to me diving into Humdrums’ debut album. The grotesque statued visage recalling the gargoyle adorning R.E.M.’s debut EP, Chronic Town was all it took. I was in.

Opening and titular track, Every Heaven lays out what’s on offer, sound-wise, throughout Humdrum’s full length debut album. Hard to believe, but within that 1:41 introduction, you might be mistaken for thinking you grabbed your favourite early New Order album from the shelf… or is it a cut from the Cure’s Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me? It’s a nice nod to some of Humdrums influences, and doesn’t outstay its welcome.

As much as the influences steeped within this album are undeniable, Loren Vanderbilt outs himself as a songwriter who, within Every Heaven’s 10 songs, holds his own among the great indie auteurs of lovelorn tales.

Superbloom charges forward with some Marr guitar stylings that meets Vanderbilt’s best Bernard Sumner delivery, behind him the music is propulsive. The song is equal parts fragile and invigorating. Vanderbilt’s voice naturally leans towards a Kip Berman, Robert Wratten or Bernard Sumner, begging the question: What if Sumner had fronted the Field Mice instead of New Order?

One of the key ingredients to Vanderbilt’s craft is melody. His songs spin tales steeped in saccharine turns of phrase, the music propelling his whimsical tales of love with momentum.. how do you spin this and not dance?

See Through You will have you singing the refrain long after the album’s 34 minutes runs out. The addition of boy / girl vocals lends a playfulness to a genre that can at times sound studied, and reminds us that there are other people standing in the room along with Vanderbilt.

Like some of my favourite albums,, Every Heaven has become a daily ritual. Repeated listens dilutes the initial rush of familiarity or nostalgia and the goods on offer here, start to present themselves individually. This 9 song cycle is now tied to my memory and experience moving through the season’s changing colors, anchoring itself among those albums you turn to for comfort and familiarity and one ythat you remember listening to for the first time. The album is now a few weeks old and somehow feels like it’s always been on the shelf.

Eternal Blue is the longest track on the album breaking the 5 minute mark, it’s also direct line to the heart.. and the pains of being pure of heart. With the blues of heartache as vast as the sky above, the song feels big and bold, like spring in the form of a love song (Lovesong). A crush revealing itself to unbeknownst ears.

Humdrum’s Every Heaven has landed like a dream. The perfect confluence of sound, influences and craft.

Find it: Slumberland Records