Melody floats in between wavelengths, like the air itself is alive and vibrant. All it took were some Dubliners in the 90s to propel the indie sphere into what it is today. Hotline TNT and northern neighbors Alvvays are the modern torchbearers of that living colour, and Raspberry Moon is the sound of Hotline TNT harnessing it into weaponized beauty.
On the 2023 breakthrough Cartwheel, frontman Will Anderson dug deep into the powerful psychedelics inherent to shoegaze – how else would you describe that guitar tone? His immaculate guitar-layering and pedal mastery present Schrodinger’s guitars, a landslide of acoustics and leads in every part of the mix at once. It was overwhelming, laced with his humble approach to melody. Now, with Raspberry Moon being Hotline TNT’s first recording as a full-band affair, the chaos has been wrestled into high-octane, precise bursts. Never before in his career has the path sounded so straightforward.
The presence of a full band in the studio and the proverbial writer’s room gives Raspberry Moon
the dynamic presence previous records swapped for a consistent, syrupy
atmosphere. While plenty of radiated sunbeam ragers populate the
tracklist, acoustic ballads and delicacy are the real calling cards of
this album. Their dependable “loud guitar, soft melody” style gets
thrown into bed with, and get this, “soft guitar, soft melody”
to stunning degrees. “Lawnmower” and “Dance the Night Away” in the last
leg of the record are especially pretty, airing out with crisp
production. Previous output from Anderson have been enjoyable in the
singularity of their vision, but here, his newest release displays the
virtue of a group project.
The record also trades sublime artificiality with the dirt
and grit of someone’s garage somewhere. The mental image of Hotline TNT
is no longer an everyman in the algorithm (highlighted by the falling
Matrix code of Cartwheel’s Spotify backgrounds), but your
next door neighbor’s most talented kid and all his friends becoming the
after-school legends. Considering Anderson can conjure that display of
youth halfway through his 30s, it’s a testament to the rejuvenation of
his music. With its added weight, Raspberry Moon gives his music a time and place like never before.
Fret not, guitar hero epics and riffs galore are abundant
across the tracklist, shortlisting Anderson alongside Mdou Moctar and MJ
Lenderman as the very best 6-string Gods alive. It’s just that they now
have even more space to exist, between ballads giving them literally
more space, and his typical barnburners, now with fuller production.
What grabs me most about Raspberry Moon is this subtle quality
inherent to a lot of the best shoegaze, and that’s understated
romantics. Between the Summer haze of My Bloody Valenting and the dreamy date nights of
Alvvays, getting lost in a current, a sea of sound, is a soul-arresting
process. Hotline TNT is no different, it’s just that, for the first
time, it’s a trust fall with friends waiting on the other side.
