True love always seems to be out of the grasp of Hotline TNT’s founding-father Will Anderson – a hopeless romantic to whom the act of finding an everlasting romance is now like a record stuck endlessly on repeat. However, for us listeners this heartbreak and yearning serves, rather selfishly, only to benefit our ears. This is especially notable with new single ‘Protocol’ – the band’s first release with Third Man Records, a record company praised for individuality and raw indie talent.
Immediate dark and gloomy elements of the track are reminiscent of clear 90’s influence – Static sounds blend with grunge, pop and hints of shoegaze. The track screams red leather and wolf-cut bangs, fans lining up for hours to see the show front row.
‘Protocol’ connotes a lonesome hour of solitude in the bedroom – an adolescent crooning over a six-string with Slowdive blaring out on full volume from the cast aside walkman. Anderson’s years of displacement and nomadic living across the US shine through the lyrics, having, without a doubt, added to the vocalist’s feelings of confusion and disorientation in a life evermore predetermined by society’s expectations.
On the track, Will Anderson adds “This song is about falling on a sword — sometimes you just gotta hold an L even when in your heart of hearts you know it’s not fair. Saving the relationship is worth taking the blame now and again.”
Hotline TNT bring something original to a familiar sound, this simply a match made in heaven for fans of Toner, Weed et al. let alone shoegaze fanatics.
Photo by Sara Messinger
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