Recently I said out loud “I kind of miss the type of music the 70’s group ‘America’ made.” It was pop rock with southern-tinged guitar melodies and floated on the edges of folk, county and adult contemporary. The lyrics were tight and so were the harmonies. It was a sountrack for both the open road and the way back home. It was considered cool stuff in multiple genres.
It was literally a few days later that April 2022 LP “Home Run” by Windsor, Ontario, Canada band Huttch came across my path. The internet music gods were listening.
Take song “Georgian Bay.” It’s all about those vibes. It delivers a time, a place, a feeling. It harkens back to the days of “You Can Do Magic” and “Today Is The Day.”
Uncle Ears isn’t stuck in the past though. We love our new music by younger bands and look for both the influences and divergences. “Home Run” hits a sweet spot for 70’s pop but Huttch also create in the here and now.
“Rush Of Life” keeps us in the moment with up-tempo sensibilities, rock and roll drive and more vocal layering.
“Tired Eyes” invites us in take a closer look at when you grow weary of life. Be aware of when the people round you need lifting up, when they are seeing the world through tired eyes. Let music be a bridge to refreshing your view.
You can’t deny the melting ice cream smooth intro to the tune “Get On With It.” The next few minutes deliver synth-laden grooves and a simple sentiment: Now matters. Leave your issues behind.
It’s one thing to harken back to an era but quite another to also sound “fresh.” Huttch manage this well by crafting songs that emote the familiar while at the same time grounding themselves in the present.
There’s no reason for getting lost in nostalgia when right now is giving you just what you need.
The band themselves embrace their 1970’s influences. They listed a couple by name a few years back (2018) as they were preparing to release their first full LP Huttchino:
“We love Canadian bands and Hollerado is such a huge inspiration for us because they’re very much do-it-yourselfers and they just make the same type of rock music that we like. It’s not necessarily indie rock — even now it’s a bit more rock ’n’ roll. Steve Miller was a huge influence for us, even ELO — we love ELO so much. We want to take what we like from the old and what’s going on with the new, do something kind of different.” —Robbie Cervi, Drummer
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2018/01/03/rising-windsor-rockers-huttch-led-by-the-nose.html
Four years later Huttch, in an unlikely turn of events, have satisfied my craving for America even though they are from Canada. They reside in the north but have made a breezy southern-tinged pop rock collection that I would have worn out over the summer if only I had heard it sooner.
Now it’s November. But what the hell. Let It Roll.
LINK: https://huttch.bandcamp.com/
UNCLE EARS is a music blog written by David Falk. davidrfalk@gmail.com David was born in 1962 and gravitates towards melodies, adventure, unsigned artists, fresh discoveries. He trusts his ear to know what it likes and loves sharing what he finds. He lives near Seattle, WA, USA.
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