''Leave Me Alone'' is the debut full-length

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Spanish

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

band

Hinds Hinds may refer to: Deer, especially does *Deer People with the surname Hinds: *Hinds (surname) In places: * Hinds, New Zealand, a small town * Hinds County, Mississippi, a US county *Hinds Lake, a lake in Minnesota *Hinds River, a river that flo ...

. It was released on 8 January 2016 under Lucky Number and

Mom + Pop Music Mom + Pop Music is a New York City-based independent record label whose current roster includes Courtney Barnett, Madeon, Tom Morello, Porter Robinson, Tycho, Tash Sultana, Sunflower Bean, Beach Bunny, Caamp, Del Water Gap and more. Founder an ...

. The album follows several singles and a 10"-compilation the band released between 2014 and 2016 as a duo and since adding drummer Amber Grimbergen and bassist Ade Martín as a quartet. "Garden" "San Diego", "Easy" and "Warts" were released as singles and music videos. In October 2016 a deluxe edition of ''Leave Me Alone'' was released, featuring a bonus disc of B-sides, rarities and cell phone demos that were mostly recorded prior to the album's recording. An animated music video for "Bamboo" was released to promote the deluxe edition.

Music and lyrics

''Leave Me Alone'' has been described as a set of cheerful, casual,

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

, guitar-driven pop songs, with many critics referring to the music as "

surf-rock Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a Music genre, genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is in ...

". Most songs feature duets by the band's two vocalists, Ana Perrote and Carlotta Cosials. The songs are sung in English, and thematically cover positive and negative romantic situations, among other subjects.

Reception

''Leave Me Alone'' received mostly positive reviews upon its release, largely describing the album as playful, energetic, and exuberant, although some critics identified a more serious and gloomy side to the music. Though drawing comparisons to many other similarly unpolished garage rock bands, critics praised the album's distinctive success at conveying the band's camaraderie and their enthusiasm for their music. Noel Gardner of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' commented on "the impression

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

gives of Hinds as a tight-knit girl gang," and ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'''s Harley Brown wrote that the band often sounds like "they got carried away with the sheer good fortune of discovering their musical talent -- and how much fun it is playing with each other." The dual vocalists were identified as one of the best aspects of the album, with Quinn Moreland of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' writing that "the best moments on ''Leave Me Alone'' occur when Cosials and Perrote are going all-out, belting together without restraint." The album has also been negatively criticized for not expanding creatively beyond other bands in the genre, with ''Spin'''s Gardner writing that "it's a little hard to avoid feeling like you've heard this one before." Ken Capobianco of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' criticized the predictability of the songs, saying that he hopes the band's songwriting improves in the future, and that "too many songs... seem like first drafts."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Leave Me Alone'' adapted from album liner notes. Hinds * Carlotta Cosials – vocals, guitar * Amber Grimbergen – drums * Ade Martín – bass guitar * Ana García Perrote – vocals, guitar Additional personnel * Miqui Brightside – photography * Diego García – mixing, production * Paco Loco – mixing * Ashley Standford – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 debut albums Hinds (band) albums Mom + Pop Music albums