Hatcham Social Dig The Tunnel...You Hide The Soil

It's been well over 15 years since Orange Juice broke up, but someone apparently forgot to tell Hatcham Social that simple little fact. You see this group of Londoners have taken the sound that made Postcard famous over two decades ago, polished it, dressed it up a bit and made it their very own. Over the course of four limited edition singles and a couple of cassettes, the band has sharpened this approach into a deadly weapon and their debut album, You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil is living proof of this. In fact, it's easy to say that You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil is the best record from 1987 that was never recorded by Edwyn Collins.

With a flare for the dramatic and definite sense of what makes a good pop song, Hatcham Social weave a sense of what's classic and what's modern into every song. You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soilat times gets in touch with it's inner goth but then allows the sun to shine through with an equally jangly number. See, "Mimicry," and "Sidewalk," as perfect examples of each. This is the sound of proper indie recorded twenty years after it was proper and it's that retro-feel that makes this record stand out like Ian McCulloch's hair. They simply don't make music like this anymore and you have to love Hatcham Social for falling in love with it and sticking to their guns in making it with the same honesty of the Postcard stable.

You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil is a classic. Not only does it have a classic sound, it has classic in the making songs, and it was produced by a legend in Tim Burgess so the question is how could something like this ever fail? It can't and it doesn't. I love this record and this is one of the few albums this year that's solid from start to finish. This is an album with solid hooks, emotional lyrics, purity, a sense of purpose, and is proper indie in the truest sense of the word. They don't make records like this anymore and after listening to You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil on repeat for days it's easy to say that this is one of the best records of 2009. Hatcham Social...Edwyn Collins and all of Orange Juice and Postcard would be proud.