The Hunted Crows
The Hunted Crows
September 26 2014 (self release)
5.5/10
Words: Richard O'Hagan
Melbourne duo The Hunted Crows make a curious claim on their website. Tucked away discretely under the video for ‘Sniff You Out’ (the lead single for this EP) is a claim to be the ‘dirtiest two-piece on the block’.
Now, that’s quite some claim. The market isn’t exactly lacking in two-pieces at the moment, for one thing. But also, if you are going to make that claim, why do it in such an understated way? Is it a bizarre attempt at a humble brag, or do the band not really believe it themselves?
It is a relevant problem, because it also underpins the whole of The Hunted Crows' EP. There’s a hatfull of good intentions, but sometimes it feels as if the band don’t believe they can carry it through. Which is a shame, because there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with what they are doing here. All five tracks rattle along nicely – in the case of 'Twisted Tongue', for a little too long, unfortunately – but the flat production does them no favours. You sense that these are numbers which work really well in a live setting but simply fail to carry that through into the studio.
All of which is rather disappointing. ‘Sniff You Out’ at least promised something different, with singing drummer Jacob Linnett’s voice almost becoming another instrument, but none of the other four tracks really hit the mark. ‘Hungry Wolves’ is the only other song to hold the interest all the way through and will appeal to the eclectic group of people who like the sound of Jet trying to play ‘Crosstown Traffic’ and getting confused. By contrast, ‘Gimme Some Bad Stuff’ and ‘New Gun in Town’ are, frankly, a bit dull and uninteresting.
The real problem though is that this ‘two people playing drums and guitar’ is a crowded genre, and The Hunted Crows have given the likes of Royal Blood, Drenge, Deap Valley and so forth a head start of two years or more. They’re playing catch up, and this won’t help them catch up fast enough.
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