Hold Your Horse Is
With just guitar and drums, Hella creates a remarkably full and restless sound on Hold Your Horse Is. Zach Hill plays with enough speed and small rhythmic changes to pull the drums into the foreground. Spencer Seim's guitar provides recurring figures and melodies that give the activity a clearer shape. Their interaction makes the density easier to follow.
After the brief electronic opening of The D.Elkan, Biblical Violence arrives with a sudden burst of force. The transition establishes how the album works: Hella does not wait for the listener to catch up completely. Beneath the rapid movement, however, repeated ideas offer a useful point of reference.
Republic of Rough and Ready shows how important the guitar is to that balance. Its firm central figure gives the track a recognizable character while the drumming continues to move around it. There is more at work than speed or a large number of notes. The instruments have different jobs, and each makes the other more interesting.
1-800-GHOST-DANCE uses that difference well. Its opening leaves a little more space before the music becomes busier again. Changes like these give the album more variety than its constant energy might suggest. Most of the pieces are also relatively compact.
The intensity can become tiring. Listeners who need a relaxed beat or a clear vocal line to guide them receive little help here. At times the drumming demands so much attention that the guitar melodies are easier to notice on another play. That difficulty is both a limitation and part of the record's appeal.
Hold Your Horse Is succeeds because there are identifiable songs beneath all the activity. The instruments remain busy without losing direction or character. Hella makes demanding music that still feels playful, with two musicians who do much more than try to outplay one another.
