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De Høje Hæle

Mund Til Mund

Written by: PP on 22/11/2013 17:22:26

Although the analogy isn't 100% accurate, I consider De Høje Hæle indie punk's answer to the retarded universe of Red Warszawa: something that appeals to a very specific demographic in Denmark that find this type of awful humour somehow entertaining purely for the reason that it is awful. With songs like "Blærerøvsbetændelse", "Rutsjebanetur" ("det’ en rutsjebanetur, så er jeg glad, så er jeg sur, så er jeg nede at ligge, og så er jeg oppe og køre") and "Kikkertsyn", De Høje Hæle have landed themselves in the hearts of some through stupid humour and lame jokes, whilst others like me can't for the love of God understand why some people might find their songs at all tolerable. Luckily for you, this review will take a more objective stand and steer away from their lyrical universe to focus mostly on the instrumentals, because after all, "Mund Til Mund" is a decent sophomore album in that department despite its slightly pretentious vibe (though this is no iceage, there's still a consistent hipster vibe that irritates the punk rock fan in me).

Basically, if you haven't come into contact with De Høje Hæle just yet and you're from Denmark, you might as well have lived under a rock. Their light indie punk approach, with post-punk undertones, has been hyped by the national mainstream media for quite some time now, possibly because of its retrospective approach to the punk rock genre. Think back towards the 70s, add in a bunch of indie rock influence and a light, minimalistic soundscape overall, and you're starting to understand what De Høje Hæle are all about. Some sections fall directly underneath the power pop category, whilst others draw from Ramones and Sex Pistols while interpreting the 70s punk genre through a, yes, hipster filter. There are also moments where I'm thinking that these guys draw close parallels to The Hives, as long as you remove all rock'n'roll and danger elements out of their soundscape. But riff-wise, they start from a similar angle, and just replace distortion with a light sounding style instead. It's a fun, easily accessible mix that can no doubt be played in radio stations across the country, but it does leave much to be desired for in terms of songwriting (the lyrics, let's not even touch those as they are so unfunny it hurts).

Occasionally they bring in a girl (the chick from Dig & Mig) to contrast the indie-flavored male vocals, and while this adds some variation to the mix, it's difficult to get around the fact that aside from a couple of catchy tracks, lot of this is just fairly standard retro punk with indie rock embedded within it, which is done much better by many other bands I could name just off the top of my head.

Download: Undskyld For Meget, Blærerøvsbetændelse
For the fans of: Gasolin, The Hives, indie-flavored retro punk
Listen: Facebook

Release date 20.09.2013
Hjernespind Records