Dissapointing synth pop
Hoover Manoeuvres are ‘electro-fused dance inspired kinda folk with stompingly fine tracks’ or at least so says the press release for this self funded mini album Meds. Disappointingly this little six track effort doesn’t display so much as one ‘stompingly fine track’. It’s consistently unimpressive from start to finish; despite Meds having a lead singer who, irritating tendency to overreach herself aside, can actually sing a bit.
The problems are chiefly lyrical. With vocals this clear the song writing really has to be of a decent standard. And it never is. Last track ‘Teach Them’ could honestly be one of the worst written songs of the last few years. Its clichéd peace and harmony message takes embarrassing swipes at skewed targets whilst drifting aimlessly in-between broken dance rhythms. It’s a monstrous mess which detracts from whatever good aspects the group have.
Musically Hoover Manoeuvres are no-brainers. It’s all soft beats and unpretentious stripped back electronica. There’s even some almost reggae like rhythm on title track Meds which is the best of a bad bunch. The group just don’t seem to know when to play to their strengths. Take ‘Down The Line’, its finale is a an achingly beautiful funky electronic arrangement spoilt entirely by the previous three minutes of bland lounge room listening. It’s frustrating at the best of times but when the pretty decent finish of ‘Down The Line’ leads onto the musical disaster that is ‘Don’t It Seem Like’ you can’t help but cringe at how effortlessly the band seem to be able to shoot themselves in the foot. ‘Don’t It Seem Like’ isn’t even the worst track on the EP, it’s just sub-90’s girlie TV teen drama soundtrack schmaltz and as far as I’m aware that died out with the last couple of episodes of Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
On a more positive note there is, as I’ve said before, a strong voice fronting Hoover Manouvers. It ticks all the right boxes in the same sort of way Sharleen Spiteri used to with Texas, but ultimately there is such a multitude of flaws in the overall package it’s hard to see the one vague positive redeeming what is ostensibly a very poor effort.
Mercifully at just six tracks long the group finally disappear from your stereo; but in all honesty they’ve overstayed their welcome long before ‘Teach Them’s’ torrid tones trundle to a halt. At present Hoover Manouvers are unsigned and at some point in the future hopefully they’ll understand why.