BLEND-INN album art.jpg
Out now via LAB Records

Rating: 9/10

By Kieran Webber

The Australian duo return to us this year with their sophomore album ‘Blend Inn’, unlike their debut release it takes a more serious route, at least within the lyrical content. Debut album ‘Boronia’ was a thull throttle stoke-a-thon that tackled love, life, lust and heartbreak. The general vibe was one of positivity but on their sophomore release the tone has shifted, this may be as they’ve grown up and the worlds cuddly persona has faded away, leaving the duo open and vulnerable.

Tracks such as ‘Homely Feeling’ allows us an insight into the bands mindset when away from home, giving us access into their anxieties. Lyrics such as “Trying to make it through the night, cold sweat, my hands are shaking” give us a deeply personal insight.

This complete honesty is present throughout the whole album but they sound their most unguarded in tracks ‘Whatever’ and ‘Disappoint Me’, both tracks talk in depth about their clear struggles, it is sincere and genuine emotion that drifts out of Zachs vocals.

Hockey Dad have laid themselves bare throughout this record, allowing us an insight into their insecurities and pressures. However, the band offer a reaching hand to the listener with ‘Join The Club’, a track that takes a poke at the social pressures that the world puts on people, particularly young adults. The lyrics “You better be happy, You better be healthy, You better be pretty, You better be skinny, You better have money, You better be funny, It’s not too hard, To join the club” is wholly relatable.

The band’s second album is a delightful serving of emotionally driven surf-rock with their classic punky undertones. It is an album that boasts their progression as musicians as well as songwriters, their last album was an incredible boast of this already. It’s refreshing to hear a band return for a second album and absolutely smash it. Bands such as Hockey Dad can unfortunately be ignored or sideswiped but their ability to write on a level that is so deeply personal and relatable keeps them from fading into an ocean of similar artists. Although the album does take a more serious direction it is still not devoid of infectious riffs, thumping percussion and good times.

Listen to ‘I Wanna Be Everybody’ here: