Album Review: Hookworms - Pearl Mystic

Modern Life Is Rubbish, Blur once asserted. Or to put it another way, everything that presents itself as new has already been round the block before. Hookworms might've been identified as one of the UK's most promising new bands but they don't hide their influences, as shoegaze guitars, Spiritualized organ drone and hypnotic Krautrock grooves combine on the nine-minute, momentum-building Away/Towards. Progress is evident, though, on the codeine-induced crawl of Since We Had Changed, which aches with a melancholy grace. A band for the future maybe, whatever shape that takes.