Hockeysmith - 'Tears At My Age'

Falmouth based Hockeysmith has released new single ‘Tears At My Age’ ahead of her EP of the same name set for release in January via Ex-Local. The musical nom de plume of Annie Hockeysmith (an excellent surname by all accounts), her latest offering is a sprawling electro-pop opus by route of shoegaze and post-punk.

Born from time spent between Cornwall and Copenhagen, the influence of the latter’s music community blends with the scenic yet eerie isolation of the former to craft a multi-textured ode to past tears cried. According to Annie Hockeysmith herself, the track is “One for the girls out there and their tears for undeserving boys”, each wave of sound crashing over you with a fresh swell of emotion.

Sonically it has echoes of Shura’s more pensive moments, the vocals providing an emotional heart without feeling detached from the instrumental. There are also hints of Ride and Sonic Youth in its spacious ambition, as well as the suggestion of something darker bubbling beneath the surface. The intense and unsettling layers of the track’s final minute bring to mind the epic insistence of the 28 Days Later theme (you know the one, from the scene with Cillian Murphy dashing about a big mansion killing rapey dudes).

Overall, it’s a hodge podge of influences that could feel disjointed in lesser hands, but Hockeysmith has formed them into a sonic tsunami to wash away any doubts. Finding beauty in solace never sounded so good.

Words by Hattie Long