Staff Reviews

Hooton Tennis Club - Highest Point in Cliff Town

Review by Christopher McBride

Highest Point in Cliff Town is a big, dumb record»

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Hooton Tennis Club release their cracking debut album 'Highest Point In Cliff Town' on Heavenly Recordings. The album was recorded and produced at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool by Bill Ryder Jones. From Chester and Ellesmere Port, their name inspired by a sign for the tennis club in Little Sutton, Hooton Tennis Club grew up together and played in a number of bands with improbable names. While studying at various colleges they speedily recorded some songs to upload with no intention of ever being an actual 'band' but early demos soon caught the ears of Heavenly Recordings and by September 2014 the band had signed to the label. Following a UK tour with label-mate H. Hawkline the band entered the studio to start recording their debut album in the early spring of 2015. Inspired by the plug-in-and-play quasi-improvisational approach of Deerhunter and Ariel Pink, the album is the sound of the summer of adolescence slipping into the autumn of adulthood. Here the wit of Kurt Vonnegut and twisted storytelling of Wes Anderson collide to tell tales of banal jobs, relationships, memorable parties and passing characters. Musically melodic, fragile, wonky, witty, poetic and pop (definitely, defiantly pop) the skewed melodies and oddball narratives combine in perfect symbiotic musical harmony, each song a small burst of sunshine to warm the coldest of hearts. Think Teenage Fanclub, Guided By Voices, Randy Newman, Big Star, Silver Jews - but birthed in northern English towns in the 21st century.