The Hiss

THE HISS, who consist of Adrian Barrera (vocals, guitar), Ian Franco (guitar), Todd Galpin (drums) and Johnny Kral (bass), will head out on a stateside tour this April and then bunker down in Atlanta to begin work on their sophomore album, slated for a UK release this fall on Loog.

A menacing, melodious rock ‘n’ roll assault that marries classic American songwriting with primal energy and heavy psychedelia, Panic Movement was inspired by the portentous mood of Alejandro Jodorowky’s cult movie classic El Topo and takes the space rock blueprint forged by Morris on The Verve’s Northern Soul (an inevitable comparison) and leads it into darker, dustier terrain. Clever Kicks, the albums blast-furnace opener, starts proceedings with a stuttering machine-gun guitar line, skyscraper-sized drums, and those wilderness period lyrics: We’ve had our share of scrapes and sticky situations but the overall mood, proven by a rousing Riverbed and Brass Tacks, suggests a band who have decided to face their demons and leave them by the roadside. Ranging from the Rohypnol rock of Ghosts Gold to the pulverising Step Aside, lyrically it’s a record that finds THE HISS occupying a world of ghostly motorbike gangs, deserted gold mines, gathering wolves and teenage escapism.

While Sanctuary’s North American release of Panic Movement will be the first time the album is made available in the U.S., songs from the album did gain considerable spins on American radio last summer during the group’s whirlwind U.S. outing. Beginning with an opening slot in June for The White Stripes in Atlanta – a gig they landed at the personal request of Jack White – THE HISS then blazed across the U.S. for a month playing rock rooms out to LA and back while garnering praise along the way from American audiences and critics.