We’re fully poised for a continued ‘90s musical revival. The mood fits: a kind of shell-shocked miserablism, anger at the apparent hopelessness of politics, a sense of an economy that ain’t quite right for the people working to fuel it.
Hammydown, an indie-rock outfit from Northampton, Mass., has the collegiate vibe, the general frustration and shruggy tunefulness that is right in the pattern of how decades of style get recycled and repurposed. Comparisons to Belly, Liz Phair and other grunge-era scruffy pop artists will make sense.
On their very good debut EP “Pizzaface,” frontwoman and songwriter Abbie Morin has sly and catchy songs that capture a perfect kind of low-level crumminess: scraping burnt toast, swiping a credit card and having it get declined, and plummeting through online hell-holes. Morin and crew are doing it right, pulling a few bits of tone and texture, but punching things up with the smarts and rage of 2018.
I expect this band will get a ton more attention this year. See them in an intimate setting now. Hammydown play Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven, on Monday, Jan. 29, at 8 p.m. Free with RSVP, $5 at the door. 203-789-8281 or cafenine.com.
