The Hoosiers – Compassion Review 

It may be obvious to see the world is lacking in compassion, but it is sometimes worth noting so with easy-going, alternative rock. The Hoosiers piece together a floaty, light-sounding collection of welcoming instrumentals right in time for summer on Compassion. Their contrast comes from the obvious, the heavier tone hit upon with a note of what society and culture are currently lacking. Niceness appears to be the absent emotion. Frontman Irwin Sparkles and Alan Sharland are working well to not just rest on nostalgia. No, there is no feeling of playing up the hits here. Instead, the band are pursuing a new sound that, while many have tried in the past and present, is new to The Hoosiers. Sparkles and Sharland know what works for the group. A nice message and stronger instrumental selection are what the band has banked on for years, and they do much the same with Compassion.  

The difference then is not in vocal range or instrumental variance, but in messaging. Sparkles has maintained a fantastic voice over the last twenty years, crucial for most bands but utterly central to The Hoosiers and their longevity. His vocal style, that slightly higher pitch that pop has now found itself drifting back towards once more, is tailor-made to the modern material. Multiply and Automatic Glow are nice enough, Sparkles uses his voice as an instrument rather than the focus. Instead, he’s keen to give The Hoosiers a shot at instrumentally diversifying. It works. They’re capturing that sugary sweet pop sentimentality, and they bring about a strong sound all the same. A tad repetitive, and some will have had their fill by the time So High begins, but there is at least a sincerity at play. The band has adapted better than their mid-2000s indie scene contemporaries. To some extent, Compassion puts The Hoosiers in place as followers of a trend rather than makers of one, but they’re keen to adapt and sound as though they’re having fun in doing so.  

You can get a feel for the ongoing strengths of The Hoosiers’ core concept, that desire to bring positivity and sentimentality irrespective of the storm being weathered by the listener, on Don’t Hang Your Head. But a best-lived life is all built on contrast, and while Compassion features a few of those darker moments and neat references (a nice nod to The Beatles on Man from the Magazine, for instance), it is built on the pop positivity of the past five years. People want and need a break from their lives, but to deal with it appropriately is to deal with it with balance. What they keep together here is a likability which is not featured all that much on the current, chart-topping pop albums. What The Hoosiers have with Compassion is not just the thrill of light-hearted music, but the personality for it too.  

They’re not trying to shift a brand or note a style for the sake of peddling some other project. This is not Sabrina Carpenter, Johnnie Walker in one hand and faux pop power in the other. Nor is it Harry Styles doing his best David Byrne impression while he rifles through James Murphy’s back catalogue. No. The Hoosiers know who they are and what they do best, and sound very comfortable continuing on with this. It’s refreshing to hear how hard at work they are to break down this implication that positivity in pop is a dirty genre. The results across Compassion speak clearly to this. Likeable, light pop work which will no doubt delight those who are looking for that bright light of escapism. There are songs here which feel like suitable, modern-day continuations of what the band stands for, and that’s what matters most of all.