I’m going to come out and say it: Hot Cops might be the best band in Northern Ireland. They’ve slowly been picking up a dedicated following for their brooding alt rock through blistering live shows in Belfast and Dublin, and a series of excellent single releases through Paper Trail Records. ‘Dumbbo’, the follow up to February’s ‘Passive Passive’ is an even more foreboding instant classic.
Frontman Carl Eccles delivers his typically disaffected lyrics (Maybe i’m frustrated ‘cuz/ picking out catastrophes/ from all those laid in front of me is/ proving to be hard to bear’) with increasing intensity over a spine chillingly ominous bassline that Peter Hook would be proud of, before Eccles launches into a typically searing, feedback driven guitar freakout at the song’s outro. It’s released on special edition pink 7” Vinyl on September 2 along with B-side ‘Auto’, a date that, frankly, can’t come quick enough.
