Review
The Hussy
Galore

Why have children when I can just listen to my music and watch the bands change and grow instead? First they learned to stumble, then to walk, and finally to slow dance. Er, I dunno. This metaphor fell apart before it even hit the page.

What didn’t fall apart are Wisconsin duo The Hussy, a guitar and drum two-piece that falls somewhere in the distortion-friendly land of Garage without giving in to all the caricature genre rules along the way. As stated in our year end list, there are far fewer call and response numbers here than on their early work. Instead of echoing rage, these days The Hussy are melodic and relaxed, working a lovely interplay between guitarist Bobby Hussy’s soft vocals and drummer Heather’s harmonies. The two counter each other and come together in the middle where it used to be built on the change-up between.

“Not the Weed,” which would make a fitting title for their brand of stoner garage on Galore. The song of said title is a mid-tempo two-stepper with a big guitar lick that repeats in between choral vocals that soothe and float atop the rhythm. In a general sense the whole record is more focused on this mid-tempo style. In the following jam, “Luke,” it’s again got a guitar groove that makes the hips wiggle, but it’s a steady pace throughout, more sway than sweaty. It’s garage rock played in a room full of smoke, bursting through the haze now and again with a dynamic guitar to temporarily clear the air. Closer “My Bad” takes this concept to a whole new level in The Hussy’s version of an epic, clocking in at a jammed out freakout of 4:30 (most songs are between 1:30-2:00).

There are still a lot of tempo changes on the record, but it’s defined by that middle range, inexplicably pulling from both bloated arena rock and contrarily from stripped down garage. The music is big…while posturing as small. Galore is the kind of record you play on repeat, gradually increasing the volume, and then you suddenly realize that you’ve blown out your ear drums.

Rock ‘n’ roll.