We adore Hinds’ third album The Prettiest Curse. The Madrid-based quartet (Carlotta Cosials, Ana Perrote, Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen) have released their most complex and candid work to date, while retaining the grin-inducing exuberance that has become synonymous with this band. It has also come at a perfect time – just when we all need some uplifting summer sounds!
The title alludes to Hinds embracing the changes – good and not so great – that have come with being in the band. Unwittingly they’ve also summed up a wider feeling – some good things can come out of bad experiences. It is also about a band continuing to celebrate who they are and where they come from, prominently singing in their native tongue for the first time and having legendary Spanish photographer Ouka Leele design the album artwork.
We wanted to find out more, so we spoke to Ana about the making of the album and how the band have been coping during lockdown.
Thanks for talking with us. Your new album is bigger and bolder than we’ve heard you before – it’s Hinds turned up to 11! – but it also deals with some challenging situations – loneliness, criticism and relationship difficulties. How would you describe it?
It definitely was a challenge! I would describe it as Hinds leaving adolescence, and entering 100% songwriting adulthood.
What was the writing and recording process like? Did you approach it differently to your previous albums?
Everything about this album was different. It is the first time we had proper time to really focus on the writing and that gave us the impulse to really explore with more and more instruments. We were able to travel and write with different people and that also was an amazing experience. And so, we met Jenny Decilveo – the wonderful producer behind this album!
This is the first time we’ve heard you singing prominently in Spanish on a record. How important was it for you to acknowledge where you come from on the album?
This was like a strip-down. It was even more challenging than writing in English, because with English we have the “excuse” of using a foreign language. With Spanish, we are speaking our native language – we have no excuses! There was way more pressure to do it right. We know exactly what we want to say and how we should use every word. Also, our moms can finally get what we say!
What is your favourite track on the album? Is there any track you’re particularly looking forward to playing live when you can get back to touring?
This is hard! My favorite song as a whole thing is ‘Good Bad Times’, but to play live I really enjoy ‘Boy’ and ‘Just Like Kids’.
We’ve seen that you’ve sadly had to cancel your forthcoming tour. How else has lockdown impacted on your plans as a band and how have you been coping? What have you been doing to stay sane?
Well, we had to postpone the album release. We weren’t able to rehearse the new songs, and that also felt very strange because that’s how we feel right and complete! I just tried to stay as busy as possible, but it didn’t always work…boredom really drove me nuts! I definitely had good and bad days, you know?
What’s been your soundtrack to lockdown – any music recommendations for our readers?
I started watching a lot of Beach Boys’ documentaries, so that got me into deep stuff! But I discovered a lot of new music too: Rothrigo, Menta, The Undercover Dream Lovers, Tumaca and Liam Kazar.
The Prettiest Curse is out now via Lucky Number.
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