Album Review: hunx hairdresser blues

His subversion of the girl-group with Hunx and His Punx has made Hunx (Seth Bogart) one of the most intriguing and exciting bandleaders to come out of the recent wave of excellent American garage rock groups. On Hairdresser Blues he's taken control, playing everything but drums, though the languid but heartfelt opener Your Love Is Here To Stay shows that not much has changed. Hunx is still on his classic '60s pop train. Simple ditties like Always Forever make you feel he was born to do this. This record was written when Hunx (who really is a hairdresser) fell on some rough times yet the music is so jaunty it's a little hard to believe.

The clap happy Let Me In is an appeal to a prospective partner and, while it's probably due to its unfamiliar subject matter, it's hard to consider a song referencing putting a dryer between your thighs (Hairdresser Blues) all that dour. Set Them Free is the purest representation of the record's theme; often Hunx relies on cliché to get his point across but it feels as if it goes with the musical territory. We've all been the narrator of I'm Not The One You Were Looking For and we've all felt the pain that When You're Gone outlines so bleakly.

If you can look past (or enjoy!) tuneless singing, sloppy guitar lines and a bucketload of clichés, you might just find Hairdresser Blues to be one of the more charming releases of the year thus far.