Whether or not Hella’s freakouts would transfer from their overamplified electric environment to an acoustic one has never been a question that’s plagued me. However Hella have chosen to answer the question anyway. This EP shows that a good Hella song doesn’t need a large amount of electricity powering it to make it work. I’d go so far to say that the pared down approach is the best approach for them.
Acoustics is brief but perfectly formed, right down to the fantastically perverse sleeve showing a stage by stage melting of a chocolate bunny. The six pieces are taken from Hella’s The Devil Isn’t Red and Hold Your Horse Is albums. These pieces don’t need any life pumped into them as the original versions are great to start with but these new recordings do make them sound more exciting purely by the novelty of them being acoustic.
When the novelty wears off they still sound good. In fact, in a couple of the cases the new versions are better than the originals. “Women of the 90’s” and “Biblical Violence” both work much better on Acoustics than they did before. Same can be said of “1-800-Ghost Dance” on which Hella up the tempo slightly which gives the piece a much needed kick in the backside. I must admit that some of the pieces do lack the punch of the originals like “The Devil Isn’t Red” which lacks the aggression that runs through the electric version but the gentler vibe suits the piece so no reason to complain.
What appealed to me most about Acoustics was how much more alive the music sounds when it is stripped back to the bare essentials. The production is cleaner on these recordings, the finer parts of Spencer Seim’s technique is usually masked by distortion but here it is possible to actually hear him playing the guitar. Zach Hill’s drumming sounds more chaotic and energetic but it is not always mixed as well as it could be. There are times where it sounds flat but this is the exception more than the rule.
Acoustics is one of the best things Hella have done. I’ve a feeling this will grow on me even more, listening to the older recordings while reviewing this has made them dull now. This EP will definitely be getting a lot of spins around my place.
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