Haunted Hearts - Initiation

Of course, without the tunes, records like this can fall flat. At best, Mr & Mrs Welchez could produce 2014’s answer to The Creatures’s Boomerang, at worst, they could produce the modern equivalent of Allman and Woman’s Two the Hard Way. Happily, this release leans towards the former. Opener “Initiate Me” lifts The Cure’s “Close To Me” beat (have a listen and see if it’s anything less than blatant…) and puts it under some retro Goth guitar wailing. It’s a great little number, and terribly nostalgia-inducing. The absurdly-titled “Up is Up But So Is Down” follows, and the baggy, pilled-out beat fits the Welchez’ dazed duet perfectly. There’s more smudged-eyeliner guitar fizzing to round out the authentic retro vibe, too.

“Something That Feels Bad Is Something That Feels Good” mixes chilly atmospherics and spaced-out vocals with chiming guitar chords and throws in a tasty guitar solo for extra effect (I know, right?). Pre-release taster “Johnny Jupiter” hops along on a doddering rhythm, soon to be eclipsed by the superb “House of Lords”. A sprightly rhythm and some crackling Psychocandy-esque electric-burn guitars push the track into the top bracket of selections from the record.

“Love Incognito” is so retro it actually hurts – you can only imagine which 80s movie it would fit best for so long before your brain starts to shut down. It doesn’t really matter which one you end up choosing (it was The Hunger for me) because the track sounds fantastic. They follow that up with the most Crocodiles-y number on the record, “Strange Intentions”.

They did us all a favour and saved the best for last – the barest, driest number on the entire record is the closer “Bring Me Down”, where an atramentous vibe is offset by chiming “Sunday Morning” guitars and a morning-sex breathy vocal interplay. It’s a rare moment of true originality and is all the better for it.

If you’re into either or both Crocodiles or Dum Dum Girls, this will be your album of the year. Craving a new record from The Raveonettes? New The Cure material? This will tide you over.

The whole record is coated in a dense echo-fug, and is completely and utterly one-dimensional. But that, to be quite frank, is the strength of Initiation – it doesn’t play host to any failed experimentation or any arty ‘statements’, it’s just a fierce, fun combination of the music the Welchez’ probably play at their pad on their scarce days off. That just about sums it up: Two loved-up musicians making tunes for the hell of it. And why not? ​