When a press release informs you of a band’s appearance at an ‘apt time’ this generally means that record labels have seen the huge success of a genre and are desperately scrabbling about to cash in on it. Hares might well fit into this cynical viewpoint considering the recent fad of folk-soaked indie saturating the radio waves. Acts such as Stornaway and Mumford & Sons have been hailed as the modern solution to the dad-folk of yesteryear but those following in their wake are facing the critical scepticism and Hares are fated to come under fire with their debut single but with good reason.
‘Pink Radio’ plods around folk-inspired karoke-duets and never picks up the pace. There are snippets of tension throughout, especially pre-chorus where the slow build up of the drums begs for at least a subtle change, yet fails to capitalise on it. This in mind, one might pick up on the ironic refrain, ‘I’m breaking my spine trying to give you some more..’, a feeling shared since this song could certainly benefit from more, as it were. What’s needed is disparity: light and shade. Hares certainly do offer a sound for the nu-folk mould and with the success of their forebearers will surely find an audience, but the truth is that they never quite provide a standard that would place them top of the pile amongst their contemporaries.
Words by Julian von Nehammer
to answer your question, Julian von whatever, yes Hares can cut it!