EP REVIEW: Covid Tapes – Hot Juice
After traumatising isolation and feeling like you’ve been screaming into the ether only to have a response from nothing but mute silence, the opening line of “Hello hello?” on HOT JUICE’s new EP mimics us all. The Jersey-based quartet are not alone in having taken the choiceless downtime in their stride and made a good thing out of a bad situation, resulting in the Covid Tapes EP. Unlike most musicians who’ve penned their struggles throughout lockdowns one, two, and 506 though, the nine-by-five-mile island situated in the heart of the Channel Islands can feel even more claustrophobic, and the indie punk-rockers can be forgiven in having had it harder than any big city dweller or vast countryside inhabitant.
Covid Tapes follows hot on the trail of the band’s debut album, This Is What You Want, and sets out to cement them as one of Jersey’s most prolific live outfits on the gig circuit, shaking up the quiet island life after earning themselves a spot on the ‘Made in Jersey’ stage at the community’s Weekender Festival. Opening track What You Gunna Do Now? exhibits Harvey Dellar-Crone’s jaunty drumming, James McMillan’s fuzz-laden guitars, and Shay Barker’s vocal lines that come away sticky with punk residue.
In hindsight, the second wave of COVID-19 is now but a distant memory, looked back on with fondness as we gaze ahead to the hundredth new strain of the virus. At the time of song-writing though, the second wave was the be-all and end-all, as documented in the second track Second Wave. Whilst maintaining the band’s signature DIY and amateur punk rock swagger in Barker’s vocals, the appearance of a melodic bass intro from Brandon Allchin and a classic rock-focused guitar solo displays a more mature progression within the group. Lyrics attacking the government’s alleged omission of the island’s official case numbers and the suspiciously extreme jumps in the constant changes of statistics lay naked in the lines “Why won’t you tell us? Why do you lie? Why are you sucking our souls bone dry?”
Cool, laid back verses swagger through Psychopath, the half-arsed vocals and funk grooves doing all they can to get across just how much of a waste of time it is to reason or argue with said psychopaths. The slight emptiness of Psychopath’s structure is soon blown far into the wind with the hailstorm of I Don’t Mind, yet this track maintains the same narrative of dealing with relational troubles with the opposite sex.
As COVID slips away, Good Times shimmies into frame, introducing itself as the latest addition to your post-COVID party playlist to greet your friends to with a shot of vodka, announcing that it’s been too long since you last saw each other. Soft and elegant background harmonies do much to soothe and reassure the listener, putting worries at ease and minds to rest. Ending with the weakest track of the EP, Mind Games feels like a continuation of both Psychopath and I Don’t Mind, offering more than a glimpse into a life of miscalculated partners and poorly judged characters. Soft, barely audible vocals act as the voice in one’s head, making you question your own sanity and second-guess your own senses.
As Mind Games peters out, it’s hard to stitch the track with the same thread as the rest of the EP, as something in the way of the mixing and mastering gives off a contrasting sound like it doesn’t belong. With the rest of Covid Tapes though, HOT JUICE reaffirm their bright, humble and modest future that they’ve got safely in their pockets, the hushed, small island delicately wrapped around their fingers.
Rating: 7/10
Covid Tapes is out now via self-release.
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