hooyoosay: “The Wrong Kind Of People” may be their strongest release yet, song for song!

In an era where artists are categorized into a million and one genres and twice as many sub-genres, along come hooyoosay. What exactly do you call them? Part of the magic of this band is that you can’t label them with anything that exists at this time – they’re far too retro… or far too futuristic, depending on which side of the timeline your tastes are coming from.

So who would enjoy this band right now? Well, probably “The Wrong Kind Of People”, which is also the ironic title of their latest 4-track EP,  and described on one of the band’s webpages as: “The overall vibe is feelgood and fun, the word “wrong” merely being ironic, for the message simply is that nothing is wrong, on the contrary all is absolutely fine.”

Lyrically hooyoosay speaks to our times, it concerns itself with how we treat this rock we call home, and how we value each other each day. Musically the band just keeps getting better and more complex. With the combination of great lyrics and great musicians writing together how could you go wrong?

This may be their strongest release yet, song for song. There are no dead spots. And they don’t even need to push the envelope or 'experiment with new sounds'. They continue to please their fans and acquire new fans along their musical journey, just doing what they do, because they do it so well. It’s very refreshing to witness this band staying true to their form and genre.

You could listen to “The Wrong Kind Of People” today, in 10 years’ time, or you could have listened to it 30 years ago already. This is exactly how it does, would have, or will sound… always. hooyoosay have a timeless sound, like the Beach Boys or the Mamas and Papas – clear-cut folk-pop sensibilities and lush harmonies… with a twist. And when I say twist, I also mean tango… because that is how far they stretch their rhythms on the instrumental “Illusionist at work”.

But it is the title track, “The wrong kind of people”, together with “The right kind of friend”, that forge their invigorating, take-no-prisoners blast of chirpy creativity into the tired and dull pop wasteland. hooyoosay refuses to accept the boundaries or mainstream constraints of fossilized genre music. They just manage to sound as great as everything that’s come before and nothing that’s out there now. And that’s a mean feat in itself.

Clean, vintage sounds and beautiful melodies, without any pretentiousness, are hard to come by today. If you’ve never heard of hooyoosay, or you’ve never listened to their music, you are missing out. I strongly suggest you give “The Wrong Kind Of People” a try.


By Rick Jamm, Jamsphere, October 2015.

Original online publication:
http://jamsphere.com/news/hooyoosay-the-wrong-kind-of-people-may-be-their-strongest-release-yet-song-for-song