Critic's evaluation
A few months after the release of Cigarettes and Dear Loneliness, their first EP, Stoned Hare surprises and announces their latest project. Entitled Lullabies, the album is still under the production care of Nicolas Carvalho, who now, in this role, has the help of Izzy Castro.
A sinister sound, of dread, like the wind blowing on cold, dark nights. It's curious how the introduction of This Lullaby, with its energy and inquisitorial clothing, causes a certain morbid-masochistic expectation in the listener. Like a sudden breeze, Castro's drums emerge with accelerated beats starting the song's instrumentation. Fast and with an alternative rock and post-grunge aesthetic, it is filled with the remarkable presence of a guitar riff in a joyful tone, but whose distortion makes it aggressive and, at the same time, sadistic. In the second verse, João Marcelo's bass stands out, with a contagious groove that harmonically joins the guitar lines. On the lyrical side, Carvalho, in his interpretation based on the English language, imprints a more anasalized vocal influenced by grunge names like Layne Staley and Chris Cornell. For its construction, melody and weight, the album's opening track takes on the character of a single.
A firm guitar and dark fingerings are present in the first moments of The Wolf's Waiting, a song full of punctual sound punches and a clear and clean vocal. On the lyrical side, Carvalho manages to impress sensuality at the same time as her vocals are an integral part of that sinister instrumental. As a whole, the song manages to draw the listener in, but with less force than its predecessor.
Seventies rock has a revival in Holy Sh't (Seven Feet Down). The melody, with ample keyboard participation, harks back to the blues rock style of songs like Roadhouse Blues and Love Me Two Times by The Doors. At the same time, however, the guitar, with ample distortion, puts a naughty aggressiveness that gives a more sensualized rhythm to the song. The drums, on the other hand, in accelerated snare drums and with phrases of firm blows, refer to the sound pattern of Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters' drummer. With an eccentric melody, the song has great potential as a b-side single.
With a unique melody, the introduction of If You Disappear curiously, and perhaps because of the strong bass marking, reminds us of the aesthetics of Separate Ways, Journey's single. With a sensuality superior to the previous song, the song has an aesthetic that mixes elements of synthpop with eighties rock.
As in Holy Sh't (Seven Feet Down), the keyboard is one of the main elements in the construction of harmony, but here, in this track, it takes on a more acidic form. Despite this, what forms on Evil Mind is an extremely melodic, pleasant, and infectious ballad that features rippling riff guitar and a cool movement without sounding immature.
Lies and Crimes already starts differently. With rock being again the protagonist genre, the song's introduction has an extra guitar that, without childishness or pampering, screams and stands out among the other instruments. It is William Barbosa conquering his space in this song, which is largely groovy and whose bass has a shrill and necessary marking. Melodic and with a contagious rhythm, the song is another track to add to the team of Lullabies singles.
The guitar leads Rabbit Hole, but it is the bass with its characteristic marking that steals the scene. Barbosa repeats the Lies and Crimes highlight during this track with his hammer on and pull off. Of all the tracks on the album so far, however, this is the song with the most exciting and intriguing chorus. After all, it manages to raise the adrenaline level in the listener too high. Another single, but this one, like Holy Sh't (Seven Feet Down), is a b-side.
Between squeaks, the keyboard introduces itself in cold, melancholic and sad, but not funereal notes. With the rhythmic explosion, Invisible gains weight and a ghostly notion brought by the keyboard effect. Its melody, based on alternative rock, has an attractive apex at the entrance of the second stanza from more attractive harmonic lines.
The first thing to say about Stoned Hare is the clear evolution and sonic maturity observed between Cigarettes and Dear Loneliness and Lullabies. The sound presents itself with more pressure and awareness. Carvalho's English pronunciation also shows evolution, and the mix, in turn, is cleaner and well done.
Not only that. In the melodic question, the group seems to have detached itself more from its rhythmic roots and inserted itself more deeply into a universe of its own sounds that, of course, comes from the fusion of influences between the members of Stoned Hare. For this reason, Lullabies is a big step in the conquest of an authorial space and the group's own identity.
Examples are songs like This Lullaby, Lies and Crimes, Holy Sh't (Seven Feet Down) and Rabbit Hole. They do not hide the group's influences, but take on authentic forms while winning the audience over with their catchy melodies.
Unlike the cover of Cigarettes and Dear Loneliness, the art of Lullabies escapes significantly from the sensual character. Signed also by Carvalho, the art in this work denotes a sense of social criticism that can be perceived through the central character: a man apparently made of paper, wearing a suit and without features. Even though this is the idea behind the artwork, it does not completely match the titles and lyrical tenor of the songs, which move between subjects such as maturation, relationships, and the relationship with death. In any case, one thing is certain: the art is bold in its essence.
Released on 03/10/2021 in an independent way, Lullabies is no longer experimental or raw. It is mature, precise, and consistent. While Cigarettes and Dear Loneliness served as a call for media attention, the present work was simply a confirmation of the competence of the team behind Stoned Hare.
