White Hills

Album Review

Like wandering in a dense and druggy fog, White Hills’ self-titled album is like a stoner rock beacon, hypnotically guiding the listener with layer upon layer of fuzz and reverb to some unknown destination. Recorded at Oneida’s Ocropolis studio and featuring Kid Millions on the drums, it comes as no surprise that White Hills is able to evoke the mesmerizing, Krautrock-influenced psych of Oneida’s Each One Teach One, using repetition and subtle change to slowly build the songs into Hawkwind-esque space jams. “Polvere di Stelle,” the sprawling jam that closes the album, perfectly captures the spirit of White Hills. Like the album itself, the song is always opening itself up and expanding in all directions, adding layers of atmospherics while guitar solos play off of the titanic bass riff that anchors the track to reality. The album also goes off in more esoteric, Krautrock-oriented directions on “Glacial,” where droning, almost Sunn0)))-styled tones slowly shift notes, evolving the song with a crawling pace. This is an album that eschews easy hooks and quick melodies for a more carefully layered approach to making an album. White Hills isn’t an album that’s concerned with giving the listener easily digestible singles, but is instead offering a collection of tracks that work as a complete listening experience, rewarding anyone who is willing to put in the time to consume the album in its entirety with a carefully constructed and incredibly spacy experience.