Music Review // The Hausplants "Into Equilibrium"

The Hausplants begin "Into Equilibrium" with this ominous bass and it just feels so fitting by the end of this EP because these songs are going to stay with you.  During "October" I am reminded of both artists with big voices such as Florence and maybe some Adele, but then those guitar riffs come in and I'm also thinking about Cowboy Junkies and Mazzy Star.  There is an overall performative way about this which makes it feel like the rock which came after grunge only with more of a show.

While the melody can be felt in "Dreams of Falling" there is also passion behind it all.  "Hypocrite" brings out some Fleetwood Mac and Heart, with some horns near the end, which just makes it feel like a powerful classic rock song.  Dreamy swirls start "Normalcy" and then I begin to think of artists such as Laini & The Wildfire and OK Co.   There is just this soul and borderline jazz within here as well.  "Too Close to the Sun" can take on more of a traditional alternative rock sound, like Grizzly Coast, and by the last song, the titular track it can just feel haunted.  

Throughout these songs the lyrics feel like they could be put together to form a book of poetry.  Even just in the first song we have the line: "See them pray as the world's on fire", which touches upon how people not only like to say "thoughts and prayers" but also, while I understand prayer, like what are you really doing?  Go out there and actually get involved.  If your house is on fire, you don't pray for the fire to stop- you call the fire department and most importantly you take action.

What I like most about this EP is that the music itself sounds like what might have happened if Janis Joplin fronted The Doors, but there is also this very modern approach to it all as well.  Though these songs can remind me a lot of Camp Saint Helene, it's more about the delivery of them and how they make me feel (plus the big powerful vocals) more than them being in the same genre.  Start this one from the beginning, listen all the way through and repeat that process if you actually want to start not only hearing but also feeling music.