Album Review: Raspberry Moon by Hotline TNT

Will Anderson’s New Yorkers have found glossier, cleaner ways to put old things together and make them work Before shoegaze was a name, when it was maybe just a sensation, it felt (and still feels) like a kind of warmth at the back of the skull during long walks home, or train rides to misadventures. My Bloody Valentine bleeding into Cocteau Twins through tired headphones, and the rhythmic muscle of Ride and the seemingly endless flow of Slowdive acting as ointments to the burn left behind by Psychocandy. Everything a bit smudged.

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Melody floats in between wavelengths, like the air itself is alive and vibrant. All it took were some Dubliners in the 90s to propel the indie sphere into what it is today. Hotline TNT and northern neighbors Alvvays are the modern torchbearers of that living colour, and Raspberry Moon is the sound of Hotline TNT harnessing it into weaponized beauty.

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Until Raspberry Moon, Hotline TNT was essentially the solo project of Will Anderson, with a revolving door of backing musicians and internecine disputes. But with the (reluctant) surrender of full control comes an album that is bigger in both sound and heart: a true embrace of community and emotional transparency. The towering wall of guitars are immediate on Was I Wrong? Electric, acoustic, even a hint of southern twang; it's all there in this mini-epic that shows that insecurities can be kept at bay as long as your band has your back (a running theme).

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Raspberry Moon, the latest album from Hotline TNT, was a collaborative effort. Will Anderson had originally intended to make this album in the same way as its predecessor, Cartwheel; with him and a producer, building the songs how he wanted. Yet, despite his initial reservations, the band joined Anderson in the studio. Eventually, producer Amos Pitsch was asked to contribute where he saw fit.

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Perhaps more thought-provoking than their explosive moniker might suggest, the new album 'Rasberry Moon' from New York's Hotline TNT is a powerful statement of hope wrapped up in blanket of vibrant garage rock fuzz. There are still plenty of heavy-hitting moments to sink your teeth into, most notably the thunderous riff that opens up 'The Scene'. This track epitomises the record, opening with harsh distortion and fuzzed out coastal vocals before slowly allowing emotive complexities to bloom throughout the song, on this occasion in the form of a joyful piano melody.

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'Raspberry Moon' is a somewhat modest follow-up to Hotline TNT's 2023 breakout debut 'Cartwheel', a self-reinvention of sorts: where their debut came from what was essentially a solo project of frontman Will Anderson, its follow-up sees the outfit writing and recording as a unit. As a result, the album introduces newfound perspectives into Will's songwriting, where themes of friendship and love swirl among glittery, whining guitar lines. The opening three songs smoothly feed into one another.

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