by Ryan Haughey
The mystical and enigmatic Winnipeg band Boats released their last album in 2013 and played their final show in 2016. A few years back the wild music of these prairie legends resurfaced with a new moniker: Hut Hut. They’ve exposed the public to several madness fueled performances over the past two years complete with their signature sound clip which gets everyone chanting along, “Down, Set, HUT HUT HUT HUT HUT—!”
Long has the world waited for new music from Hut Hut, and on January 30, 2020, its release is eminent, with the aptly titled Hut Hut Hut. The record dials back the roaring, nitrous fueled energy that the band brings to their live performance, showing that Hut Hut’s refined bubble-gum psychedelia can still satisfy even the wackiest of cravings.
The second track, “Harmony Mansion” embodies Hut Hut’s tendency to revert expectations with disjointed drum samples, flailing square synths and wailing guitar rips. The song rolls into the chorus with rhythmic repetition of its title like a tire speeding down a hill backed by “HEY”s and “HO”s, a crowning epitome of instrumentalizing vocal lines.
Hut Hut jumps around from concept to concept, touching on ideas that reinvent originality. At times referencing musical concepts from elsewhere on the record, each song develops an extremely obscure idea into a melodically accessible tune with matured backing tracks and seasoned accents crafted from quirky, eclectic synth lines.
Songs like “Bedbug Christmas” and “To the Lost Bachelorette Parties” pair specificity in their lyrics with tonal absurdity, vocals switching back and forth between ahigh pitched Laupner-esq and a low, operatic timbre.
Hut Hut’s Hut Hut Hut is uniquely accessible; refreshingly mature and chalk full of new ideas. It is strangely psychedelic, but familiar enough to pull you in and keep you waiting for the next track.