Heavy Hawaii is one of the most fitting band names I’ve seen lately. If you could describe the San Diego-based quartet’s sound in two words, that would be a creative way to do it. Vintage surf-rock influences mesh with the distorted energy and jagged attitude of harder-leaning rock, their new track “Airborne Kawasaki” enjoyably representative of this cohesive meshing. The vocals are nonchalant and slightly withdrawn, with wonderful quirks like the gleeful surf-rock harmonizing at the end of each verse. The vocal approach is reminiscent of Ariel Pink, who turns seemingly amateur vocal stylings into jaw-dropping melodic creations. “Airborne Kawasaki” almost sounds like a more distorted cousin of Pink’s “Bright Lit Blue Skies” cover.
For a track about going for a ride and taking some drugs, it’s not surprising that head songwriter Matt Bahamas wanted the lyrics to be “lazy and carefree.” The track’s title “came from a T2 trading card, where the T1000 is bursting through a window three floors up.” Expect a full-length from Heavy Hawaii in the near future.
