ARTIST: The Hectors
ALBUM: Sometimes They Collide
LABEL: Tarantism Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 7-21-08

Dual guitars and sweet, almost bubbly vocals make this debut EP from Los Angles foursome The Hectors a pleasure to listen to. Most alternative rock bands, especially when first starting out, focus either on twee melodies or gratuitous noisiness, but The Hectors combine harmony and feedback on each song and manage to do it with subtlety. Opening song "Cold Star" sets the mood with a mostly clean strum paired with thickly distorted feedback from the second guitar, and lead singer Corinne Dinner's vocal work is thick and sweet without being sleepy; there's a hint of perkiness that's almost suggestive of The Go-Gos, had they been a '90s art rock outfit signed to 4AD Records. "Carol and Sandford" is sharp but laid back, and "A Million Fingers" takes on a more brooding quality slightly reminiscent of The Cure, though Dinner's vocals are more Tanya Donnelly than Robert Smith. "I Drove All the Way from Bridgeport to Make It With You" should be a country ballad, judging by title alone, and there is indeed the faintest hint of twang in the multi-layered guitars, with Dinner's voice taking on a more subdued smoky quality, while "Proof of Sale" finishes things off with a return to hard-driving but gorgeously harmonized guitar overdrive. Great stuff, especially for a debut, and sure to appeal to fans of early Lush, His Name Is Alive, and The Breeders.

Visit The Hectors online at www.tarantism.com/hectors/index2.html.