For over a decade now, Boston’s Hallelujah The Hills have been responsible for, in our estimation one of the most consistent catalogs in American indie rock. A quick refresher for the uninitiated, or those not up to date on the saga of HTH. After releasing their first two LP, with Misra Records, their debut Collective Psychosis Begone and 2007’s Colonial Drones the band found themselves in label limbo and decided to turn to their fans for assistance via a Kickstarter campaign for No One Knows What Happens Next and continued to utilize crowdsourcing for the recording of  2014’s high water reaching Have You Ever Done Something Evil? So, when the band announced that their latest set and overall 5th LP, would be titled, A Band Is Something To Figure Out,  to be issued on the bands own Discrete Pageantry imprint, it made perfect sense.  It’s common place for bands to release advance singles and engage in various forms of promotion leading to a new release, but Hallelujah The Hills took things a bit further when they a launched a web site dedicated to the theory that Woody Guthrie predicted punk , premiered the raucous new track We Have The Perimeter Surrounded and even caught the attention of their local office of the F.B.I.

One constant for Hallelujah The Hills is their ability to push their sound into new exciting directions with each successive release and A Band Is Something To Figure Out not only continues that fortunate trend, it’s proving to be the bands finest hour. A Band Is Something To Figure Out opens with an earnest distorted chord progression of What Do The People Want which buoyantly floats above the bands varied instrumentation for one of albums most memorable and infectious tracks, that effectively sets the tone for the entire LP. Some of my favorite records share a similar trait, that trait for  exercise sake we’ll call schizo song syndrome: that euphoric feeling you find that with each listen to said album you unexpectedly discover a new song to obsess over. ABISTFO makes a strong case for this fictitious syndrome, for instance this morning while driving to work Hassle Magnet hit me square between the eyes with its layers upon layers of fuzz and intelligent wordplay, meanwhile last night I was fixated on the massive pop hooks of I’m In The Phone Book, I’m On The Planet, I’m Dying slowly. What makes this album so immediately enjoyable is that the band continues to push their limit as a recording unit while chief songwriter, Ryan H. Wash’s delivers a new and compelling set of lyrics and hooks that wind up sticking with you long after the final track, Realistic Birthday Music has come to a close. I’ve tried to find a failed experiment or perhaps misstep within the 5th LP from Hallelujah The Hills, but I’ve found none. The album follows a logical progression for the band and seamlessly picks up where they left off with Have You Ever Done Something Evil, but somehow manage to pull off the arduous task of improving on their past efforts and delivering a dark and fuzz drenched opus that finds Hallelujah The Hills turning in their best LP and what is sure to be one of the finest rock records you’ll here all year.

Hallelujah The Hills will celebrate the release of A Band Is Something To Figure Out on May 12th at Great Scott.