Hinds at Tractor Tavern

Tractor Tavern is one of those places you go where you tend to run into your friends and neighbors without really planning for it. As someone who lives in Ballard, scanning Tractor Tavern’s calendar is a regular occurrence, whether online or just walking by their giant window calendar. Having not heard of Hinds, I jumped on Spotify and gave them a listen to discover the joy that is a rock duet of women from Madrid, Spain. Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote make up this Spanish duet both leading with guitar and vocals.

Before the show began, I ended up running into Paul, a person that I frequently end up doing exercise classes within the area. Paul told me he was there for the opening act, Mamalarky, who had previously played shows at his father-in-law’s house. Mamalarky is made up of Livvy Bennett, Michael Hunter, Dylan Hill, and Noor Khan. With their new album, HEX KEY, coming out on April 11th, now is a great time to jump into the band’s first two albums: Pocket Fantasy and their self-titled debut album Mamalarky. Their latest single “Anhedonia” is a soothing indie-rock tune that embodies the meaning behind the word; the inability or reduced ability to experience pleasure or enjoyment from things that were once enjoyable.

Hinds started the show telling us their day began by recording a set for KEXP’s Live In-Studio sessions. These videos have garnered more views than I would know how to count. If you’ve never seen them before, do yourself a favor and search YouTube for your favorite band on KEXP; You may be in for a treat. Alternatively listen to one of my favorites from a few months ago, Ginger Root. Thanks to Hinds’ visit to the Seattle Public Library, they ended up learning that their sound guy was actually colorblind. If you don’t know why this matters, you’re overdue for a visit to the aptly named Red Hall.

I had no anhedonia for what happened next. Hinds’ energy feels like walking into the apex of your best night out on the town. While they had previously been here in October, they were overjoyed to be back at a sold-out show that packed the Tavern. They informed us of their animal mascot of the tour, a crocodile. This mascot came with a quote; “Be a crocodile, don’t look back.” Acknowledging their music being fairly niche, Hinds was extremely grateful to their growing fanbase, which they previously thought had already reached its max.

While Hinds’ music ranges from what feels like head-bobbing, aggressively emotional rock tunes to more fun-filled, energetic indie rock, toward the end of the show, the duo let their backing band take the reins as they made their way into the audience starting what seemed like the happiest mosh pit I’ve experienced in a while. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear Carlotta made her way up onto Ana’s shoulders while they both continued to play their guitars. With a mix of English and Spanish lyrics filling their musical repertoire, Hinds had the crowd moshing, singing and dancing with joy throughout the whole night.