The Importance Of Being Hoirong
being just earnest doesn't quite cut it
There’s music that is lumped as ‘art’ and there is that labelled ‘commercial’ (at least that’s the popular brain shampoo at work). Then smack between these two mounds lies the crack that is Hoirong, a band that casually flicks one right up at the notion that art is not accessible.
The music has many quirks and it gives you pause to think but it’s not on account of some experimental, progressive wankery. There’s no manifest desire to show off the band’s musical chops. While there are obscure references, there are also utterly relatable touches. Sardonic wit abounds but so does warmth and care. It wills you to move along with it on your own dance; perhaps a strange dance but even if you are the shy kind, you’re not self-conscious for once (I know all too well).
The many digs it takes at the ‘scene’ - music, politics, society - and at the many absurdities that we accept as normal are rarely over the top but that does not mean the punches land with any less impact; it’s just that the impact is felt a little different to a straight-up shattering sock to a glass jaw. Take for instance “Xox” which starts with the rousing audience cheer accorded to rock superstars (and with a gorgeously insistent bass line). Stuff of dreams, that adulation. The grim reality of independent music, especially in India, makes itself heard in the desultory, tired clapping of a few hands at the end.
Hoirong doesn’t lay things out on a platter nor does it stick to the done thing. Often the lyrics have nothing to do with the song title. The words frequently seem to serve only the purpose of driving the human voice around; capricious, short, strange. But they carry an impact which you only feel when you listen, listen well. It could be something as simple as “bless you” on the song “Namaste” which might as well equally be “fuck you” depending entirely on how you’re feeling when you listen to it. One of the most moving pieces that the band created is “Gaming With Your Hertz”, a monologue which seems equal parts elder advice and drunken banter. A poignant comedy, if you will. And just when you think it’s all quirk and wit, you hear the horror of what we do to each other with no remorse in “Dandi”. Far from being caprice, you realise that there’s a point to every Hoirong song which is informed by observation. In that, the band is one of music’s equivalents of Charles Dickens and by that I point to his writing which displays a keen understanding of the human condition (not the man himself and his rabid racism). Hoirong takes familiar, sometimes every day, situations and instead of making them internal and personal to itself, it presents them to you and leaves you to feel them in your own way. You relate to the music as something that is vicariously yours. And that is important in all art.
The only grouse I have with the band’s music is the production. I understand that the lo-fi gnarliness is deliberate but it could be done better without sacrificing its integrity. I wonder about the what if? of a Steve Albini or a Kurt Ballou or a Martin Bisi working on these albums.
Hoirong describes its music as “the fat and ugly step-sister of pop”.
It throws away the crutches of convention without sacrificing listenability. It’s been doing it consistently for years on its 6 albums and EPs, a few singles and a couple of cover/tribute albums. And by doing it really well, the band shows that being uncompromising doesn’t have to be elitist and obscure or mindlessly and crassly commercial. It’s neither the mother of invention nor is it only in it for the money. The intelligence in the music comes wrapped in casual cool. There’s a reason why Indian independent artists got together to cover an entire album by them. It’s something that happens rarely in the independent music community in India. That’s the amount of respect and influence that Hoirong has.
India’s music is not just Bollywood or sitar music. Hoirong’s music is one of the portals to a richness beyond that. When you want to escape the drudge and vapidity peddled by inane artists who represent those very same qualities that much of the world has sunk to, be Hoirong.
Hoirong in the North-East Indian state of Manipur means asshole. That might explain a lot of things including the opening paragraph of this piece.
All of Hoirong’s music is available on Bandcamp. You can pay what you want or nothing. If you really like something or all of it, I’d urge you to pay. You could listen on streaming too. Unfortunately, all their music is not on Qobuz but I think it’s available on Tidal and most of the music is definitely on Apple Music. These are the best-paying among the streaming platforms even though it’s not much.
And fuck Pottify!