HINKLEY - LUNA LOUNGE, 1.27.05



I was pushing Hinkley's show at the Luna Lounge last night pretty hard, but I'll admit that it was mostly on faith and some great MP3's. This time I speak with experience - they are an excellent band, unassuming but clearly very comfortable on stage. Between the creative songwriting and the dense sound (often three guitars strong), everyone in the band has a lot of freedom. At any point, at least one of them was jumping off to do something interesting while the rest held down the song. Keith Parkins was playing crazy basslines all night, even pounding away on chords a few times, and drummer Charles Leport would drop in these stuttered arena rock megafills every once in a while to keep you honest.

At its core, though, Hinkley's music is rooted in traditional, slightly countrified indie rock. The Shins (Chutes Too Narrow especially), Summerteeth-era Wilco, and Built to Spill are reference points, but all the guitars give it a shoegazey element that I really like. "The Queen of May" and the last song - "Silver Saxophone" if I remember correctly - were my highlights. It was all really good though, a bit looser and more rocking than on album. (And their EP, incidentally, cost just $3!) This was just Hinkley's second visit to NYC from Rochester, but lead singer (and main songwriter, I believe) Will Veeder said they hope to be back soon. You can be sure that I'll be there.

Download Hinkley's music here. And thanks to Jason for the picture above.