Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Hinterlandband, Old Church Recording 2022.
Hinterlandband are a Canadian band from Vancouver and their music is best described as dreamy pop or indie rock and Bon Echo is the first I’ve heard of them.
They have quite a retro feel to them, very reminiscent of late 1960’s psychedelic pop.
They have toured extensively throughout their homeland and have performed on the same gigs as Silversun Pickups and other notable Canadian bands.
Bon Echo is a double album consisting of 23 tracks with the first 10 tracks being Hinterlandband songs and tracks 11 to 23 being from Colin Wylie who had joined Hinterlandband for a number of albums, particularly Fallow Field (2009) and Bon Echo (2012).
So, this album is a combination of older material which has been re-issued.
Hinterlandband, the Canadian band, released six albums but interestingly neither of the above-mentioned albums appear in their discography.
There are many Hinterland bands listed in Google and on YouTube, including an Australian version and also one from Ireland, so it’s hard to glean information related to the Bon Echo album.
There is a difference between the Hinterlandband songs on the double album and Colin Wylie’s songs.
His songs are less dream/pop and more indie pop/rock/folk.
Songs from both albums have been extensively used in Canadian TV and film projects.
Colin Wylie’s songs also traverse a wider variety of genres than his work with Hinterlandband.
A number of instrumentals are included in the second album including an instrumental version of Split Enz Six Months In A Leaky Boat, which is just the full track which precedes it on the album minus the vocal.
Another instrumental is a great track called Surf Wawa which is built around a simple riff played on a distorted guitar, presumably put through a Wah-Wah peddle.
The Colin Wylie album is available as a stand-alone album via Bandcamp and the combined albums came to me via Play-MPE.
The album artwork seems to be the same for both releases.
It’s all a bit confusing but the songs are good.
