Hot Hot Heat – Elevator

I was never a fan of Hot Hot Heat, although their break through album, Make Up The Breakdown, received a ton of good press and put them on the path of slight popularity, I never really got into it. The few songs I heard for it, I immediately dismissed. But then I heard they were coming to town and I figured its about time I try and give them a listen to see if I wanted to go or not. The fact that they just released their third album, Elevator, gave me the perfect opportunity to do so; and it easily gave the me the reasons to go see them.

The sythn-pop-punk band could easily be compared to many of the new wave mid-80’s revivalists that are flogging the airwaves these days, but having been around for longer before hand gives them a bit more credibility and diversity. The fact that most of the songs revolve around the poppy,upbeat melodies of Steve Bays’ keyboard add a little extra umph to the songs, something that is lacking in many of the new waves rock recitalist.

While songs like Ladies And Gentleman, No Jokes – Fact (which is just a instrumental) and Middle Of Nowhere could easily be pass over without missing a beat, songs like Shame On You, Dirty Mouth, Pickin’ It Up and Goodnight Goodnight sometimes force the listener to reach for repeat. The songs are danceable, catchy, toe-tapping and fun. Bays Britishly laced accent gets stuck in your brain as you hum the choruses day and night all without becoming too obnoxious. Lyrically, Hot Hot Heat aren’t anything spectacular, and are even sub-par at times, but they get the job down. They are simple, direct, and catchy making it easy to sing along with while you dance around.

Will Elevator stand the test of time? Probably not. In a few months, it will rarely find its way into your CD player; but on the few occasions it does, you won’t dismiss it but rather still enjoy its catchy, dancy melodies. And intriguingly, the band skipped track thirteen like some superstitious people do with real elevators and just fill it in with a 4 sec dead air piece.