Hoops ‘Rules’

Olivia here. It’s a stunning day in the capital today, and dare I say it, sort of warm? This kind of weather makes me feel so much more awake than usual – there’s something so joyful about being woken gently by the sun streaming through your blinds, rather than the fun game I usually play of alarm-snooze chicken, which always seems to end with a sort of panic jog to the train station. In an effort to make myself feel less ill (I’m like, 90% recovered from my cold), I spent a little more time on self care than usual, electing to paint my nails a rather fetching shade of swamp green. I did ask my boyfriend which shade I should choose, to which he earnestly told me just to mix two different nail polishes together (ain’t not body got time for dat), and then promptly lost interest. Something that has peaked his interest however, is the heady heights of Albert Square, finally joining me in the dark, dark, avenues of trash TV, where we both gorge ourselves on hours of Ian Beale looking confused and Danny Dyer calling people ‘mugs’.  The star player of last night’s episode was national treasure and queen of our hearts Dot Cotton, who spent the majority of the hour long special looking for her cat Dave (AKA Ethel, AKA Ethel’s Little Willy, AKA Ethel Esquire). With June Brown turning 90 yesterday, it was a fitting tribute to an actress who can make people laugh with a single roll of her big brown eyes and a drag on her eternally lit cigarette. Vive la Dot. Long Live The Dot. Also playing on the theme of guilty pleasures, is the new single ‘Rules‘ from Hoops, their first release since their 2016 EP, appropriately named ‘EP‘. Resplendent with romantic Johnny Marr-esque guitar riffs and cascading bass lines, ‘Rules‘ captures the moment of crawling through a lovers window as darkness falls to spend the evening with them. Vocals wrapped in swathes of gauzy reverb do not dominate the track, instead playing a supporting role to the heady sound world as it builds to a climax, perfectly encapsulating the excitement of an illicit encounter. Effervescent and ardent, this is the perfect track for listening on the way to an illicit encounter of your own, whatever that may mean to you. Enjoy.