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Reviews

Hoven Droven — Groove
(NorthSide NSD6002, 1996, CD)

by Mike McLatchey, Published 1999-01-01

Groove Cover art

Hoven Droven is a different beast than the usual on NorthSide. The folk influences are definitely there, but they don't play first chair in this group's music. This is a compilation of their two albums Hia Hia (1995) and Grov (1996), which explains some of the musical diversity. They are a si- piece of guitar, bass, drums, violin, sax, and trumpet, not a usual instrumentation for folk music, but Hoven Droven are just as much a rock group. In fact the heavy and crunchy bass and guitar (the latter by ex-Myrbein guitarist Bo Lindberg) will give the listener an impression of an almost folk / hard rock fusion, yet this style, sort of like a crunchy 70s Fairport Convention (or Steeleye Span) only makes its way into the repertoire early on in the CD. The latter half of the CD you hear the horns more, and the music lives up to the album name, easy grooves (with only a little of the folk sound, about the least you'll see on any of these albums) with a lot of sax presence. A group with multiple personalities whose diverse backgrounds have not seemed to mesh yet, it'll be interesting to see where their chips fall for their third studio album.

Filed under: Archives, Issue 16, 1996 releases

Related artist(s): Hoven Droven

 

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