Record Review: Flim School's "Hideout"

In my top 10 records of 2006, I had Film School's self titled LP as my #2 album overall of 2006. It was a fantastic record. Filled with memorable riffs, great lyrics, and a surprising populist tinged shoegaze sound throughout. Consequently, Film School's Hideout was one of my most anticipated records of 2007.

Sadly, Hideout does not live up to my lofty expectations. Hideout does have its moments, but the record is bogged down in muted lyrics and guitars that rather than standout "hideout" in the background of the songs. Whereas, the self-titled LP had shoegazer tendencies, Hideout is above all a shoegazers record that aims for psychedelic sonic-achievement. The synths and keyboards dominate and are up front and center. The guitars, save for the song "What I Meant to Say", and one of the albums standouts, are relegated to the background. It seems as if Film School is attempting to reach a much darker psychedelic platitude that the Stone Roses met on their standout, albeit sunny, tracks "Don't Stop" and "Elephant Stone" from their self-titled LP. Thats a commendable goal. Can you name any other band today trying to bridge the gap between shoegaze and psychedleia in an accessible manner? Neither can I.

Hideout, however, never soars. Its rarely memorable either. Don't get me wrong, Hideout has good songs. "Lectric", the lead single and the video linked to above is a fantastic song as is the polyrhthmic "Two Kinds" and the song "Plots and Plans" which could have easily have been an outtake from their self-titled LP. What really holds the record down is Greg Bertens' vocals. Greg is a talented lyricist. He wrote one of my favorite verses of 2006--Well, I can't seem to help myself from showing only sides/What you can't seem to figure out, I know I've tried to hide/All I seem fit to say right now, I don't feel justified/One day becomes another day regardless of our fights/And, Oh, we measure heights/Back to Back/Your heels to mine/Oh you seem so high/Despite where you stand alone/In your mind. The listener wants to hear what he has to say, but, the arrangements leave the vocals tracks in the distance. Its like being at a concert where the PA has mixed the vocals way down in the arrangement. The album probably would have gained a higher score if the producer and band had decided to up the amount of vocal tracks in the mix.

Regardless of what could have been done, none of the songs, besides "Lectric" and "Two Kinds", reach the heights the band achieved with "Breet", "On and On" or "Harmed" or practically any of the other songs from their self-titled LP. What attempts to be a genre defining psychelic bridge between indie rock and shoegazer is instead a patchy, flawed effort, with the last quarter of the album really containig the bright spots of the whole records.

FINAL SCORE-- 6.2