Bring the Hoax - Single Coil Candy (2023)

`Single Coil Candy` is the full-length debut album from Swedish alternative rock group Bring the Hoax. The album comprises four tracks from their self-titled EP (previously only released digitally) plus six new, until now unreleased songs. The album title refers to a commonly used guitar pickup called “single coil” which is often found in offset guitars such as the Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar models, two of the band’s favourites. It has the ability to produce a warm, full-bodied but yet gritty sound. Candy-like, as the band like to call it.

The album opens with `Los Angeles` which is a delightful fuzzy almost grungy introduction and a kind of mix match of stuff you`d remember from the late eighties, early nineties rock come indie bands. The song at times is fairly reflective but also has that sense of optimism about it. I felt there was a real swagger about `Jonestown` which has all the right hooks and melodies to really draw you in, a quite anthemic offering. I have to admit that I did revisit it when I read later that the text is somewhat inspired by events that took place in the jungle, in Guyana. Events that are still relevant in today’s society where we question less and less.

`Lighthouse` is not quite a ballad but certainly a much more thoughtful slower paced offering with some enchanting shimmering guitar riffs. The band have shared that “We wrote ‘Lighthouse’ to never forget that even in the darkest and the most hopeless of times, there is always someone who wants to listen, help, and be there for you.” We have a kind of Smashing Pumpkins like jangling guitar riff intro to `1993` which has some thumping bass lines and pounding drums that allow the vocals to really soar over this rousing anthemic like call to arms.

`Final Day` I read “speaks about the intense desperation for peace and stability” according to guitarist and vocalist Hasse Karlsson. It`s a thoughtful and pensive rock out with glistening riffs towering above at times throughout it`s lifecycle. We have a sort of rage and anguish shared on `Once` where the lyrical resentment is mirrored in the accompanying musical backdrop.

We have a similar outlook with `Every Kind of Light` but it seems to be much more restrained but could easily boil over at any time. There was an almost feeling of cleansing about `Burn The Sky` which may have referred to the feeling and relief after a relationship has run it`s course. It was a real fist in the air pumper and i`m sure will go down a storm when played live.

` Singles` is a quite dreamy ruminative offering that appears to ponder on adolescent times when everyone seemed less tense and tries to figure out why life has changed. The album closes out with `Down Below` which is a further contemplative submission which is slower paced but retains all the intensity and power of the previous tracks shared.

`Single Coil Candy` is Bring the Hoax, who are Hasse Karlsson (guitars and vocals), Karl Nordahl (guitar and vocals), Sara Engström (bass) and Mark Pettersson (drums) debut album and I have to say it`s a cracker. It has captivating melodies and guitar hooks that will really draw you in but this at times, larger than life soundscape allows the quartet to share lyrics that deal with despair and apprehension but also leave you with a sense of hope and optimism.