As lights are dimmed and the volume of Hot Chocolate’s ‘You Sexy Thing’ is turned up, four delicate looking girls dance confidently on stage giggling with schoolgirl mirth at one another and casually swigging hefty bottles of beer.
The Madrid based quartet have come quite far from their humble beginnings, singing in a local Vegan eatery as a favour to their friend and then going on to make quite the noise on the fledgling local Madrid indie-pop scene.
Last year has been a whirlwind for the girls who have cut their teeth touring the nation’s underground crypts garnering respect and support from their burgeoning fan base and the media alike.
Glasgow’s very own Bobby Gillespie himself has championed the girls from the early days of their career.
The band then travelled to more remote corners of the world such as Australia and Thailand supporting bands like The Libertines, Black Lips and The Vaccines.
This year sees the girls release their debut album Leave Me Alone on Lucky Number records and with this release the girls are embarking on a world tour in their own right.
With almost every show on the UK leg of the tour being sold out it’s easy to buy into the brand of lo-fi deconstructed twee pop that Hinds are selling.
With a few furtive looks at the audience and the odd sideways glance at each other the girls open with ‘Warning of the Curling’, a ramshackle delight that sends the distorted reverb from the guitars shambling around the room like a geriatric patient of day release.
The sound is very relaxed and apparently so are they; dressed in oversized baggy t-shirts, clad in denim with shaggy up-do hair, adds to the unperturbed sense that being on stage really has become second nature.
Of course there are references to be made with the sun kissed, surf sound of Best Coast, however the music of Hinds is even more unpolished and akin to a modern day Ronnettes or Mac DeMaco.
The live show is infectious, it’s clear that the girls are having a good time and you can’t help but have a good time too and admittedly some of the tracks are far superior live as it seems some have been a bit lost in translation or dulled even by the recording process.
In between tracks there are shouts from the mainly female audience of; “you are all really beautiful” to which lead singer Carlotta Cosials timidly smirks back “thank you”.
She then mutters how happy she is to playing a sold out show in Glasgow, “we are going to make it a real good one”.
The band then play ‘Trippy Gum’ – a single that was one of the bands initial releases as a demo.
Other stand out tracks demonstrating their unvarnished garage pop sound included ‘Bamboo’, ‘Chilli Town’ and ‘Warts’, however as the opening chords of ‘Garden’ are played the audience seem to be awakened and some of the younger members start to pogo about near the front.
With whimsical, folly laden lyrics, such as “cause I can’t take you dancing, and I feel like I’m the reason again,” you are again reminded of the endearing high-school sweetheart nature of Hinds’ music.
They finish the set with ‘Castigadas en el Granero’, a slow building song that quickly speeds up.
Cosials high-pitched girly voice gives the song a more punky than garage edge and it’s delivered slightly unhinged.
After a very brief exit and a few rounds on the infamous roar of “one more tune” the girls return this time with a cover of Thee Headcoatees’ ‘Davey Crockett’.
Seconds later the smiling faces of many a Glaswegian punter can be seen grinning back at what’s left of the audience as the stage is invaded.
The band is almost entirely enveloped by their wide-eyed delighted fans as they bounce wildly on stage.
A heart-warming end to a cold, rainy February night.
It seems Hinds are undeniably the coolest girl gang in town and it looks like you are invited to join them.
Words/photos: Ang Canavan
