Four Day Hombre - Experiments In Living Album Review

4 Day Hombre
Experiments in Living
Album Review

For some bands, making a brilliant debut album is annoyingly easy, seemingly dropping in their laps from above without any hint of effort or struggle whatsoever before being hailed by the masses as a classic. "Experiments in Living" on the other hand, has had what could be best described as a complicated conception. the band eventually started their own label just to get the album made. But what makes this album great is it just doesn't show. Not one iota.

This collection of songs just proves how right dedication and self-belief can sometimes be. It has a fragile melancholic veneer, but scratch the surface and there is a dirty raucous soul simmering fiercely away. With guts made of feedback-laden distorted growls that hint back to classic Neil Young, particularly on recent single and album opener "The First Word…" and stand-out track "Inertia", these songs feel cathartic.
The vocal sits somewhere between Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol and Jeff Buckley, at turns gorgeously whispering and soaring falsetto, giving every track an almost aching quality that makes every hair stand on end. What makes it even better though is how consistent it is; every single track swirls and melts into the next so effortlessly, it feels like it's over when it's only just begun, forcing you to hit play again and again. 4 Day Hombre are so addictive they should carry a warning.

If you thought Keane or Thirteen Senses (remember them?!) were good but lacking that certain something, then Four Day Hombre have exactly what you are looking for. And shed-loads of it too. It's called balls.

It hasn't been easy for them, but man was it worth it. They show the potential needed to be huge. And with a debut this good they simply cannot fail to win you over.

Sam Richardson