Hum - Inlet
This is unique. Since I started writing reviews, most of the albums I have covered were recorded twenty, thirty, even some over sixty years ago. There is nothing wrong with that in my eyes. However, the timing of this review is unique. This review is unique because the album I am reviewing was released on June 23rd, 2020. At the time I am writing this, that is less than one month ago.
Full blown honesty: the band Hum has never been on my radar. When I say never, I mean, NEVER. During the late 1990s, I was noticeably turned off by the direction popular rock music was going. Grunge was starting to fade, heavy metal had spawned a genre called “Nu Metal”, which included bands like Limp Bizkit, Korn, Slipknot, Linkin Park and System of a Down. Please understand I am not criticizing these bands, as I have distanced myself from doing that anymore these days. But again, if I am being real, bands within this genre never “grabbed” me, so I dove head first into Jam bands such as The Allman Brothers, Blues Traveler (yes despite “Runaround” I consider them a Jam band), Phish and the list goes on and on. THIS is more support for why this review is so unique. Again, Hum was never on my radar.
I write these reviews mainly so I can share some of my “goosebumps” experiences when I listen to music. These feelings truly determine the direction of my day. An upbeat song first thing in the morning usually leads to a positive day. Hum is a quartet originating from Champaign, Illinois. The band originally formed in 1989, but after going through several lineup changes, released their first album in 1991 titled, Fillet Show. They went on to release three additional albums in the 1990s and achieve short commercial success in 1995 with their song, Stars, which I guarantee if you were between the ages of 14 and 45 in 1995, you heard this song on the radio.
Again, this song, nor band, never gave me that goose bump feeling. They fell off the charts after their hit song faded and disappeared. Literally. After their fourth studio album, Downward is Heavenward was released in January 1998, the band’s record label, RCA Records, released them after the album only sold 30,000 copies in one year. In 1998, this was considered a failure to record promoting companies. Hum played their last show in Chicago on New Year’s Eve 2000 (into 2001) and went their separate ways shortly thereafter.
The next 21 years were considered a hibernation for the band, I suppose. Perhaps, this was the best thing that happened to them. As I write this, there is still a minimal amount of press about their new album and why the band decided to regroup after all these years. This is what I find so interesting. Perhaps there is an opportunity for a follow up review here in the next few months and years. But the reason I had to add Hum’s Inlet as a part of my collection is because the band told essentially no one they were going to do this.
The album’s opening track, Waves hits you with a gritty, dirty, dark but soft guitar riff that is incredibly 90s. The sound, the distortion, the vocals. It brings me back twenty-five years. But remember I stated I was not a fan of this genre. I was not. But Inlet changed this.
I constantly complain to anyone who will listen that it is difficult for me to find new music these days that is as good as past generations. My level of excitement was higher than usual when I first heard this track. I was trying not to like it (pretty immature, huh?). As Waves draws to a close, the album’s second track, In the Den hits you in the cranium. This is an even stronger song than the first, and Waves is no slouch.
Lead singer, Matt Talbott does his best to not “over-sing”. I have a lot of issues with late 90s rock vocals. There seemed to be a consistent formula or sound that many times included what I liked to call, the “yarl”. I liken it to lead singers that were trying to emulate Eddie Vedder’s voice. Talbott does none of this on Inlet. The vocals are present, but Talbott himself, who also produced the album, does a superb job of mixing his vocals so they seep into the rest of the sound, not overpowering nor void of any passion.
Desert Rambler, the album’s third track, made my eyes open even wider. I began to nod my head in a “yes” direction. I remember thinking, “wow three songs in a row that are fantastic”. The song begins yet with another one of lead guitarist, Tim Lash’s gritty riffs. The song then takes a turn, the rhythm slows and Talbott’s voice lulls you into a calm feeling with its gentle vocal sound. The riff picks back up. This is not the same as what I have been hearing out there recently. Not just this song, but this whole album. I had not yet heard the remaining five tracks and already I wanted to email, text, Instagram and call everyone I knew and tell the world.
Step into You picks up the pace a bit and reminds me more of a song I might have heard in the 90s. Bassist Jeff Dimpsey and drummer Bryan St. Pere hold down the fort in this song with a solid rhythm section, allowing that guitar sound to ooze out of the speakers and into your ears. It is also apparent on this album how the lead guitar sound does not override the main guitar riff. Produced by Earth Analog Records and recorded in their hometown of Champaign, Illinois, the band put an extraordinary effort into mixing so that one instrument is not in front of any other, almost to send a message to fans, “We are one entity. No member of this band is larger than another”.
Another extremely strong track is Cloud City. As I listened to this, I began to view this experience as a comedy. I tend to laugh when a song gets that good. My mind kept asking, “Where did these guys come from? Where have they been hiding for twenty plus years”? Cloud City puts me back in high school. I have been dropped off at school by my parents, I walk slowly to my first class, dreading what is in store for me. Staring at my notebook cover, it is painted with the names of different bands I loved. It is painted with the names of people I wanted to emulate. It is painted with my dreams. I remember sitting through class after class after class and just thinking about music. Cloud City has that heavy riff that screams rebellion for the male fans, and several parts where the lyrics become soft and heartfelt, in order to lure in the female fans. As the tempo speeds up at the end, I cannot help but air drum with my eyes closed, only to open them to look at the album cover again and go, “who are these guys”?
The album rounds out with Folding and Shapeshifter. Folding comes across as fairly radio friendly. But the band follows a similar formula on this track as with the rest of the album. Hum brings back the lengthy, note holding riffs that just stick there in the air. Similar to a Smashing Pumpkins style when Billy Corgan plucks a string and lets it sit there until you can feel it crawl into your ear canal, and into your bloodstream. Folding does take a nice turn about six minutes in. This album reminds me of what music might sound like if Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Pink Floyd were tossed into a blender. But the vocals are quite downplayed. I enjoy music that takes you on a journey, only to bring you back to that main riff you were tapping your foot to earlier when you least expect it. That impresses me.
Shapeshifter also has that heartfelt groove to it. I feel like you could listen to this album when you are working out and when you want to relax and go to sleep. It has that way of giving you both angles.
As I performed research for this review, I read that Hum did have a few noticeably short reunion gigs. So, they were not completely hiding under a rock. They gathered for a few “one-off” gigs in 2003, 2011 and 2015. Perhaps the fact the band has changed lineups frequently, only to have some members return after leaving, this provides evidence as to why the band stayed under the radar or were not able to gain momentum for so long.
Whatever happened, I am continuing to get to the bottom of it. For me, many stones have been left unturned. For you, the reader, you have another item to add to your “to-do” list here. Pick up a copy of this album. I am excited to discover new music and share it with everyone. We must continue to get the word out about new music, whether it was released thirty years ago or thirty minutes ago. Thanks to a reader (and friend) of albumreview.net for turning me on to Hum’s Inlet. Now I must continue getting the word out!
Pick up your copy of Inlet now!
You can also check out one of their earlier albums from the 90s, You’d Prefer an Astronaut, which contained their most successful commercial song to date, Stars, among other tunes.
