FILM SCHOOL - HIDEOUT

(AU magazine November 2007)

(Beggars Banquet)

Around 20 years ago, music fans couldn't move for bands making noises like Film School. Overwrought, distorted guitars propping up a maudlin vocal given that extra kudos because no one could quite make out the words were once all the rage.
For influences, My Bloody Valentine, early Verve, JAMC - all the miserable greats are invoked on the California quintet's third boasting an all-new line-up save singer/songwriter Greg Bertens. Hideout is a record so steeped in the aesthetics of 'indie' music that one expects Steve Lamacq will literally foam at the mouth on first listen. And he'd be right to - drenched in the past it may be, but Hideout's chock-full of delicious guitar goodness. Buy it at once, and talk long and loud about the obvious impact of William Reid's feedback-laden guitar work - it's big and clever.