You Dig the Tunnel, I'll Hide the Soil

Album Review

The short answer is this New Cross, East London four's debut LP is a massive treat for Postcard Records-era Orange Juice fans still singing "Poor Old Soul," "Felicity," and "Falling and Laughing." Scoff all you want at such an unabashed reiteration of a decades-old Scot style, and ye might, but it matters not. For one thing, Hatcham Social, named after a nearby Peckham Social Club, thicken Edwyn Collins' Scots-go-Velvet Underground outline with Josef K's and Hatful of Hollow Smiths' louder post-punk (even some 1980 Crocodiles-era Echo & the Bunnymen on the interestingly titled "Mimicry" and — err — "Crocodile"). Better, they write gripping, thumping songs that are irresistibly danceable without aiming obsessively at moving feet. Charlatans leader Tim Burgess' production does a tight, powerful job of catching the ensemble's wiry-heavy vitality, and aside from the pointlessness of quoting Lewis Carroll's 1871 poem Jabberwocky, leader Toby Kidd (his brother Finn on drums) is a terrific singer/writer. Had they hit in the iridescent glow of the C-86 era, HS would have been at top of the pack; as it is, it's hard enough to stop playing You Dig the Tunnel, I'll Hide the Soil. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, Rovi