There once was a story about a man and a dog. Someone out there made that story into a post-apocalyptic movie which is, of course, irrelevant to the here and now as neither man nor dog form part of Hen Hoose Collective. These days, however, anything which might be an instigator of anything like an apocalypse is worthy of investigation so, after a sharp turn to the left, off went my ears down the tree lined backroads to meet their album “The Twelve”.
It won’t be much of a surprise that there are more ideas than direction in anything produced by a collective. However, that’s no bad thing though as variety is often the spice of life and that potential for creative unpredictability combined with often laser guided feminist sentiments results in some pleasingly acerbic lyrics that make, for example, “Rich (Katy’s In Space)” into something that is more like a hammer than a pop song. Even with all sharp objects removed, and with an altogether more conventional approach to design and execution, both “Out My Mind” and “Call My Name” demonstrate that mastery of the chartbound modern day pop song is also well within the grasp of all concerned while “Ego Death” provides proof that, even when taking a more cathartic approach to writing lyrics, the resulting song can still be more than a mere escape from the chains of the past.
So, whilst somewhat inconsistent, “The Twelve” is about as clear a declaration of musical intent as you might find in these days of Stepford Wives style conformity. I would not be surprised if this album was enough to get Hen Hoose Collective off the backroads and on to the motorway.
Available on limited edition vinyl and from the usual digital sources.