Nothing defines the modern world like the rush of information. It’s difficult to sit and think without your brain being stimulated from hundreds of different directions. It can be exhausting. Just deciding what is important becomes a task in itself. Nothing exemplifies this more than TikTok. If you’re unfamiliar, maybe you were born during the last millennium or aren’t “down with the kids”, scrolling through the app can feel like having a seizure; flashing lights, colours, sounds, fiction presented as fact, algorithms and human features electronically smoothed, it’s wildly overstimulating. RedHook’s new album feels exactly like that.
One of the notable features of modern culture is that it has no distinct identity. The internet has created a fluid mis-match of different styles. ‘Mutation’ perfectly exemplifies this. In fact it’s quite difficult to define exactly what RedHook are; technically they’re a pop-rock band similar to Sumo Psycho or Dream State (if you squint), or possibly Stand Atlantic filtered through Linkin Park, but their desire to experiment makes their music unpredictable and hard to pigeonhole. Hence, this record shares the ambition of last year’s debut LP ‘Postcard From A Living Hell’ but is fuelled by a desire to mix things up. And they do. A lot.
In fact while the name ‘Mutation’ fits the band’s desire to experiment, ‘A Lot’ would be a more accurate title. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, without a clear idea of what the record wants to be there’s a lack of focus, making it a very mixed bag and resulting in songs that have a similar effect to quickly scrolling through your feed and receiving short disconnected blasts of different genres. It’s interesting, it’s exciting but it’s also a little disorientating. Second, the songs are very busy and production doubles down on this. It’s not a case of less is more, it’s layering on pips and squeals, dubstep-style whirs and all kinds of chintz to fill every possible moment making for a garish and exhausting tone.
RedHook might struggle with an identity, but they do have a certain amount of personality and this is largely down to vocalist Emmy Mack. Whether she’s singing, rapping or flowing between the two she has a great skill at making, constructing or layering genuinely catchy lines. Indeed, it’s striking how many of their releases are singles and how many work better on their own, outside the context of an album. Songs like the boyband-style banger ‘Breaking Up With’ that feels like a late entry to Pop Idol, or ‘Hurt Like Hell’ which is built around a huge groove and proves to be equally catchy, are real earworms.
Despite not being quite so stripped back more ambitious songs like ‘Pyromaniac’ or ‘Scream 2’ offer a similar thrill albeit with a more alternative flavour, returning to the analogy they’re like finding a TikTok video on another platform, a single, unique piece. However, it’s distracting to have them followed by nu-metal adjacent songs like ‘Bomb.com’ or ‘Party Zombie’ which aren’t quite as satisfying. Each has so much happening that Mack gets lost in the overcrowded production. For the most part these songs are like videos made by content creators that dazzle you with dance routines rather than having a coherent voice; but then, there’s… the others.
With the garish production, designed to draw attention to itself, every song feels like it has too much going on. Rather than express themselves clearly, new ideas are grabbed at like a child in a sweetshop, giving the album its lack of focus. This is clearest when Mack raps as there’s a good reason most hip-hop artists have fairly simple backing tracks. However the other type of song takes this relentlessness further. Mostly these songs feature guest vocalists where the impulse isn’t to give the featured artist space, it’s to heap even more ideas on top. Layer upon layer of chipmunk vocals, huge door-slam riffs and glitching means that ‘Hexx’ gets hopelessly crushed under the weight of its ambitions. Similarly ‘Dr Frankenstein’ couldn’t have had a better name, as it’s a selection of parts jammed together in the hope of bringing a corpse to life. With songs like these shaping the runtime it’s no surprise the album feels like a bag of Pick ‘N’ Mix.
Redhook’s new album is a sugar rush that’s so desperate for your attention its best ideas get lost in a sea of meaningless content. ‘Mutation’ is the sonic equivalent of TikTok.
IAN KENWORTHY