Review: Hidden Hospitals ‘Surface Tension’ (2015)

Hidden Hospitals
Surface Tension
Secret Audio Club (2015)
Good for: The waiting-room for punk-rock heaven

Rating: 5.5 / 10

I went into Hidden Hospitals’ debut full-length Surface Tension as a fan of Damiera, the former band of Hidden Hospitals frontman David Raymond. Their brand of math rock reminded me of even older Vagrant Records bands and the style of “on the East Coast, it’s colder so we just play more technically (to keep ourselves warm).”

But with Hidden Hospitals’ Surface Tension, the tone is passive, lacking the urgency I came to love from Raymond. The record’s single and second song in the tracklisting, “Rose Hips” had me hopeful with vulnerable, yet powerful lyrics and musical tones. “Modern Saints,” “Synesthesia” and “Animals” all express varying levels of passion, drive and hopefulness, but ultimately the defeatist, lulling tones of the record win out, and the final tracks leave a blasé impression upon the listener with lines like “I’ve had enough nursing frozen nerves alone/I’m jumping off” from “From Toxin.”

If technical rock has anything to tell us about how one should approach the listening of music, it is that one should be able to only listen to the parts of songs we enjoy, for however many times we please, and to skip around a formal tracklisting to give ourselves a worthwhile listening experience. In that case, Hidden Hospitals’ Surface Tension does provide that with its debut.

But something is missing.

I miss the serious, immediate nature with which lyrics and music were handled on Damiera-associated releases, and I just can’t lean into the lull on this one.

-Niru Sivakumar