Iglu & Hartly - & Then Boom (Album)
I was interested in Iglu & Hartly mostly because of their love for the humble ampersand – it’s in their name and it’s in the name of their debut release & Then Boom. Sadly, the love of the ampersand that I share with this band did not, in any way, shape or form translate into a love I may have of their music. In fact, the forty-five minutes I had to sit through to listen to every song on this album are forty-five minutes I will never get back, and I will never forgive the band for that.
The history of Iglu & Hartly is fairly easy to follow. A bunch of friends meet at university, decide to pursue music and so drop out and do the rockstar thing.
They should have stayed in school.
The eleven tracks on this album all sound like the same mediocre song sung with slight variations, as though an inside joke between friends suddenly got some attention in the mainstream. The music has about as much charm as a bunch of white boys can muster as they try to put together some wannabe-hip hop party tunes. They should have pretended they weren’t being serious and then maybe the ironic spin would have saved them. But as it is, & Then Boom sounds like a crap version of Gym Class Heroes has mated with Akon’s vocal chords and produced an offspring that sounds just a little too much like one of those ringtone singles that somehow manages to get some hype.
Though the icing on the cake really comes from the inside sleeve which looks like MySpace spat all over it after Spring Break was over and the college kids all had to face the facts that what they got up to was documented.
I’d like to say that there was potential for something not-so-bad here, and perhaps with songs like Violent and Young there is a little glimmer of hope, but there is just too much about this album that is off-putting.
If you have no idea who Iglu & Hartly are- keep it that way.
