Sunny warmth and a melancholy sense of empathy, Hugs, an indie emo quartet hailing from Sydney, Australia, embrace all the connotations of their name.
Since their formation in 2021, Hugs have been polishing their sharp blend of delicately crafted, soaring emo and hook-infused, fist-pumping punk rock. With their new EP In Bones out today on Team Glasses Records the hard work is paying off.
The first video from the EP Title Jr, is a homage to the blurry indie-infused emotive rock of bands such as Title Fight and Dinosaur Jr.
On In Bones, Hugs demonstrate affection for and mastery of a wide variety of styles. “What we tried to do on our EP was take the twinkly guitar sound of Midwest emo and put it in different musical contexts,” Thomas Kelly notes.
While at some points wearing their influences on their sleeve Title Jr. is a nimble fusion of Title Fight’s gruff and desperate melodic hardcore with Dinosaur Jr’s gnarled pop-sludge and Hugs’s own brand of twinkly power pop, the EP shows the instant amiable chemistry between talented musicians that know exactly what they want to do, and exactly how to make it happen. Their passion and energy are only matched by the fluidity and craft of their songwriting.
