We don’t generally make end of the year lists. However, imagining for a moment we did, then this would be a contender. And it’s only April. This was very, very good.
Our prior knowledge of Hallan was limited. We’d never seen them before. We’d heard a few singles and thought they might be worth a fuller investigation. And, with a self-congratulatory pat on our back, we were right. Here’s a band with plenty of ideas and imagination. Plenty of exuberance and excitement. Heaps and heaps of stage presence.
It’s a multi-layered sound of drums, bass and guitar with the synth giving it a slightly different feel. We were reminded the very wonderful Working Mens Club as well as John Foxx era Ultravox. And yet it’s not a retro sound, it’s here and it’s now. And lyrics on a long list of modern day topics from prisoner welfare to war so they aren’t avoiding any tricky subjects either. As the band themselves said, they’re angry!
For a fleeting moment, on a Wednesday evening in the treasured Louisiana, this was everything. Let’s hope Hallan return quickly, and we catch them at a festival in the summer. That may well fill up the other two spots in the top three gigs of the year.
One Big House 