Albums by this artist

Boxing Hefner (2000)

Hefner

Boxing Hefner

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Hefner Boxing Hefner Too Pure, 2000 RiYL: Modern Lovers, Blur, Cars

Since most of Britain seems to either want to be Radiohead, Slint, or the Beach Boys (or some perverse combination of the three) at this point, it certainly is nice to hear a limey band that although not precisely original, is working off an entirely different set of references. Hefner might be the only damn lo-fi band in all of the British Isles.

Not lo-fi in the hip, ironic, '90s Slanted And Enchanted sense, though. This is more of an earnest, no-recording-studio-can-hope-to-contain-this-band stripe reminiscent of good old Jonathan Richman and his Modern Lovers. And I swear I'm not saying that only because Hefner cover Richman's "To Hide A Little Thought" right here on this very record. I'm saying it because Hefner employ the same tactics -- simple, medium-tempo drumming, plodding mildly fuzzed bass, bad guitar playing, and cheap organ riffery -- that the classic Modern Lovers album did 25 years ago.

Darren Hayman, Hefner's songwriter, comes across as the same sort of sensitive, pleasant, but all-too-obviously on the edge of breakdown narrator that Richman has used for his whole career. The younger band manages not to stretch the influence to its breaking point, however. They're just too British. Hayman sounds more like Roger Waters (by which I mean, nasal, dreadfully out-of-key, and convinced he's not getting the due his brilliance deserves) than the quintessentially American Richman, and the band can't resist diverting from the lo-fi formula for lousy slide guitar solos, drunken soccer choruses, and near-fatally, the occasional slide into explicit (rather than implicit) self-parody.

The good bits, like the "Roadrunner" riffery and sneering vocals of "Pull Yourself Together," are quite good. The acoustic "Destroyed Cowboy Falls" and slower, frighteningly Brian Wilson-ish "We Don't Care What They Say," however, are dreadful. It's only a collection of singles (some newly re-recorded) and rarities so I'm not going to pass judgement on Hefner yet. Let's just say that based on the tunes on Boxing, they're not going to be living the lifestyle of their namesake any time soon.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.