Album Review: Hollow Boys - Believe in Nothing

Whenever one of the new batches of cassette releases from Bridgetown Records drops, it’s a time that is both excitement and overwhelming.

It’s exciting because there is usually something within the five or six tapes in each batch that will pique my interest. But it’s also overwhelming, as a music “critic” on the internet, to try to wrap my brain around the mere idea of attempting to listen to and review the entire set.

Admittedly, I slept on the Autumn batch, mostly because I had started working exponentially more at the bookstore in August, and I realized trying to stream experimental cassette releases on my laptop during my shift were maybe a bad idea—also, I was on the cusp of starting my job at the newspaper, so there was precious little time for listening to an reviewing everything I had intended to.

Well, it’s winter now, and the Bridgetown gawd himself, Kevin Greenspon, has blessed onto the world a new collection of five releases, including one that is from my neighbors to the north—the Minneapolis based outfit, Hollow Boys.

Believe in Nothing, is the second LP from the self described “gloom pop” act from the Twin Cities, and the Bridgetown release serves a bit of a reissue, since the band themselves self-released the album in August.

A few words on the “Minneapolis music scene.” It’s certainly a scene that celebrates itself, but on a national level, there is hardly a breakout star worth noting at this point. Acts like Doomtree and Cloud Cult have a gigantic regional following, with sold out shows at “iconic” venues like First Ave, and support of radio stations like The Current, but outside of this area, I have yet to gauge their actual popularity and bankability. There are, of course, countless other local acts, plodding along, playing shows at shithole venues like The Hexagon, hoping that their 7” single will be available for sale at the Electric Fetus and that it’ll get airplay on David Campbell’s “The Local Show” on The Current.

But every once in a while, you encounter a local act from the area that really has something. Hollow Boys are that band.

Cramming their dream pop, shoegaze, and post punk influences into tight, black, cuffed at the ankle jeans, the trio powers through an impressive, fully developed, “big” sound on Believe in Nothing. It’s like Merchandise’s album from earlier this year, but without such an emphasis on pop music. Believe in Nothing is certainly listenable—heck, some of the songs are incredibly catchy, and oh so dreamy at times—but it’s also dark and noisy as hell; slithering and slinking along with a heavy low end scuzz to keep the listener from getting too comfortable.

Frontman Ali Jaafar has an otherworldy howl that you aren’t used to hearing on music like this—usually the vocals are intentionally ethereal and buried in the mix. Jaafar is loud and clear, offering up snarling positive affirmations like “All your friends are shit” or “I liked you better when you were sad”—lyrics that make you do a double take, unsure if you should laugh at how blunt they are, or be concerned.

Believe in Nothing is a beautifully aggressive record, juxtaposing post-punk angst with the reassuring warmth of dream pop. The result commands your attention—coming off as stark and gorgeous as the frozen Minnesota landscapes that bore it.

Believe in Nothing is out now on cassette from Bridgetown and on LP from Modern Radio.

*Please note a slightly altered version of this review will appear in the January 2015 issue of the Southern Minnesota Scene magazine.