Sometimes it is really quite a mystery when you investigate the depths of SoundCloud and the internet in general, especially when you're in search of solving a mystery in the first place. The different threads that sometimes lead to a tangle, sometimes nothing more than the other end of a rather unconnected thread, sometimes to a network of threads - a garment, basically - are sometimes too much to handle. Information here there and everywhere from so many different sources - some from years ago - which gives the temporariness of the internet a rather permanent edge. You can search for anything. Sorry about all of this.
Anyway, I was directed to this guy's SoundCloud page a week or so ago and only just now went through the motions of trying to figure out who he was. Obviously he is called Nick Hessler but from whence he came I didn't know until I went through the process above (and actually it really wasn't as hard as I made out) and a good ol' search is satisfying when it finishes successfully innit.
He has been making music since he was 14 under the moniker Catwalk, solo to begin with but this soon fleshed out into a fully-functioning band, which is - as far as I can gather - still operational. However, what is more recently operational is Nick Hessler's SoundCloud itself. It could be a place to post new material before it becomes Catwalk stuff (think so cause one of the song's tags is "catwalk"), or it could just be a solo outlet. I could also be completely wrong and this is not the Nick Hessler I think it is.
Whatever. Here is the song, 'Can't Let Go'.
Demo or not, this is a sunny jangly song that has a really nice rich sound - yep, though lo-fi in nature it is fleshed out to the edges, that's for sure. It harks back to 80s guitar riffs from bands like The Smiths, but has instead a very coastal pop kind of sound - not surprising given that Mr Hessler and his band are based in Los Angeles. In the twinkling melodies and slightly distorted vocal melodies there is a whole background of memories of the sea, love and longing, endless sandy romances and blazing cloudless summers.
Plus it's catchy enough to give it a wonderful pop edge. Really nice sound, it's a great style I think. I am looking forward to a more centralised effort from Nick Hessler or Catwalk or whatever moniker the next slice of California indie pop will fall under. Maybe I'm just tired.
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Listen to Nick Hessler on Soundcloud
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