This album was originally recorded as home demos while Hamish was living in a community in Germany. Drums were later recorded at a home studio at a different volunteer project in Pisa, Italy while the mixing took place over the following year. Apparently, his previous releases have been more electronic and rap related, while this contains other influences such as the Dunedin sound, bedroom pop and indie with far more guitars. This sounds as if it was recorded in a bedroom as opposed to a studio, with a lo-fi mentality, and vocals which have been influenced by the likes of Lou Reed and only have a passing knowledge of pitch. This makes it incredibly hard for the reviewer to understand what the artist is trying to achieve if they are unable to get inside their head, and that is something I found with this release.
It is an album which veers between the listenable and something which is quite hard to digest, not due to aggression or stretching musical boundaries in the normal sense, but countless hours of listening to music has conditioned me to expect certain things and often this does not deliver any of those. Hamish describes himself as “an artist developing” and that is very much the case, although whether he should have made those developments available for all to hear is another matter altogether. The frustrating thing is that when he ups the tempo and aggression, as on much of Look After Yourself, it is almost like a different album as often this works where the slower material does not. Having made it through this album a few times to be able to write about it, I can guarantee I won’t be playing it again as this just does not work for me, although it may be of interest to those who want their music incredibly raw.
Rating: 3/10
