SINGLE REVIEW: Sich Ubergeben by Hallan
Have you missed us? Things have been a bit quiet around here recently, but we've still been keeping our all-seeing-eye on the best fresh alternative music and are back to fill your ears with the bands you should be paying attention to.
What better way for the Coven to return than by injecting you with a healthy dose of local art-punk medicine. Portsmouth's hometown heroes Hallan are back with their revolutionary new single Sich Übergeben via Nice Swan Records (English Teacher, Sprints, Courting).
When we last covered Hallan, they had just released their guns-blazing rager Hands Up off their debut EP Reporting Live From The Living Room Floor. The four-piece have relentlessly toured since, pressed their EP onto vinyl, and have still managed to find the time to write and record a shit-load of exciting new music - some of which we have been lucky enough to hear live for ourselves.
Sich Übergeben takes Hallan's signature deadpan, pulsating post-punk to the next level with its hypnotic synth, frantic drums, and creeping bassline. With this sturdy backbone, frontman Conor Clements' biting vocals and monotone swagger leads the track with his lyrical case study of the British mindset. Stirring, refreshing-yet-nostalgic synth and exhilarating art-punk, Sich Übergeben leads us into a new chapter of Hallan as they evolve and surprise us at every turn.
Explaining the background of Sich Übergeben, the band says: "A father hiding behind a screen, a family watching the Queen’s jubilee and a wife leaving her unloving husband for anew life in Spain. We’ve seen all of these people and we know them too. Sich Übergeben (translating to “to vomit”) deals with our British tendencies to spew forth from our gullets, unloading our ill-informed and rather unwanted opinions onto others, the interwebs and beyond. From our living room thrones we strategize and glamourise, acting upon misinformation through hypocritical means."
Hallan continue, "It’s not too long before spewing becomes physical, and suddenly a father figure spews from his plane upon the foreign sunny land soil, covering the precious ground in British vomit, clutching a pint in one hand and his health-card in the other. His alien son looks on. ‘Who is this man and who is my father?’"
We were first treated to the track live at a sold-out intimate hometown show at The Loft, Portsmouth on April 8th. The song has since been stomping through our heads with its skittish guitar, infectious synths, and drilling rhythm section. Sich Übergeben wasn't the only brand new track we heard that night, but we are thrilled that it's our first offering of a new era of Hallan.
Aligning themselves with rising label mates like Courting, Sprints, English Teacher, and Mandrake Handshake, Hallan have carved a hole in the UK punk landscape where their mesmerising lyrical mundanity and frenetic live shows sit perfectly.
Having had a taste of the next chapter for Hallan live already, we know that they've got some massive tracks up their sleeves - you'll want to be watching them closely. Hallan will be taking Sich Übergeben out on the road across the UK and Europe this summer and autumn.
Catch Hallan live here:
6th July - Signature Brew, London
9th July - Right To Roam Festival, Bolton
9th July - Icebreaker Festival, Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth (also featuring Coven favourites SNAYX and False Eyed Dolls)
6th August - Bingley Festival, Bingley
12th August - YUCK Magazine All-Dayer, Night & Day Cafe, Manchester
13th August- Quarry, Liverpool
24th August - Supersonic, Paris
25th September - Post Punk Festival, Porto
21/22nd October - Left of The Dial, Rotterdam
