There are times in my life where my fellow Colorful Monsters correspondents tell me I should listen to an album, leading me to listening to the first song from it and then doing something else. Whether or not the artist is any good is beyond my comprehension as I am a very picky listener. If this blog was Look At This And Why I Hate It, I would talk to you about songs from those occurrences. Instead, we have a rare example where an album is so gosh darn catchy that I wake up to the music in my head.

The band Hop Along was introduced to me by my boyfriend as an artist that I wouldn’t like, to which I spite listened to and ended up quite liking. Think indie rock with a strong folk rock focus. My love for folk has been documented, but that’s not entirely why I fell for them. Frances Quinlan, the lead vocalist, is one of a kind. When she sings, it feels like you’re going through some twists and turns to follow her and her wordage. She’s really fascinating to listen to.

How Simple is the first song of their latest album, Bark Your Head Off, Dog, and is, unsurprisingly, a great starting point to listening to Hop Along. The lyrics pertain to straining relationships, personal analysis, and a few other things that don’t fully culminate unless you start really reading into the lines. I do like the coyness of the main chorus (“Don’t worry we will both find out, just not together”) giving a playful vibe to a dissipating relationship. It’s catchy and fun to follow Quinlan’s journey through her mind.

Not a beef stroganoff?

I don’t think Hop Along has all that diverse of a sound in their latest album (I haven’t really looked at their work before this) so if you’re not a fan of one song, I doubt any others will change your mind. That being said, try Somewhere a Judge. The chorus is very catchy and the line that will get in your head will be far more cryptic than in How Simple (“Afternoon vanilla sun crawls away without a sound, through the phone I pull you and drag your voice around.”) It’s about executions! Don’t overthink it.