Hidden Cabins – Two Sides, Two Stories LP (Various Labels)

Spending twenty-five years navigating the underground music scene by playing in various punk, metal, and avant-garde bands teaches you a fundamental truth about songwriting: you cannot fake sincerity. When you strip away the massive amp stacks, the heavy distortion, and the sheer volume, the actual skeleton of the song is exposed. If the core ideas are weak, an acoustic guitar and a bare microphone will immediately reveal the flaws. Hidden Cabins, an eclectic indie alt-folk duo operating out of New Jersey and North Carolina, understands this better than most. Coming from a background rooted deep in punk and post-hardcore scene ethics, they know exactly how to translate raw, unfiltered energy into a simplified, acoustic vision. With their latest release, Two Sides, Two Stories, the band delivers some of the finest songs that alt-folk rock has ever experienced. Arriving via a massive collaborative effort between  Engineer Records, Creep Records/Cobra Cafe, and Hidden Tracks Records, this album is a brilliant document of their past, present, and future.

For those of us who obsess over the technical and archival aspects of physical music media, the format of this release is incredibly satisfying. The A-side of this 12-inch record features a brand new batch of songs, offering a fresh look at where the band stands today. The B-side acts as a crucial historical document, compiling tracks from their previous EP, The Hidden Cabins Band, which was previously only available as a highly limited lathe-cut release and CD before the group took a hiatus in 2018. Because of their background in heavier, more aggressive scenes, Hidden Cabins does not write standard, campfire folk songs. They explore themes with a complex emotive flair. The lyrics across this record deal with heavy internal dialogues, navigating severe anxiety, the unrelenting passage of time, the feeling of suffering through societal surges, and the constant search for an open, winding road ahead. There is a sense of nervous tension in the writing, a feeling of pushing back against the modern world while trying to find a quiet space to simply exist. It is an intimate, highly relatable exploration of the human condition. They manage to tackle these heavy emotional concepts without ever sounding overly dramatic or pretentious. It is just honest storytelling.

To carry these kinds of themes, you need a frontman who can genuinely sell every single syllable, and Craig Cirinelli provides a marvelous vocal performance that elevates every song to new heights. He possesses an impressive vocal range that seamlessly balances the low, mid, and high notes, but what truly makes his voice stand out is the texture. There is a generous amount of natural distortion and rasp in his delivery. It’s a vocal performance that betrays years spent shouting in crowded, sweaty basement venues, now refined and controlled for an intimate acoustic setting. Cirinelli’s voice is simply mesmerizing because it wraps around your listening apparatus and refuses to let go long after the last note and beat ends. He brings a soulful, almost bluesy aggression to the material, making sure that the punk spirit remains fully intact even when the volume is dialed down. You immediately recognize when a player focuses entirely on the essence of his tone rather than hiding behind high-gain amplifiers. Brian Hofgesang’s guitar works and textures shape a perfect backdrop for the vocals to shine upon. He delivers a comprehensive collection of beautiful chord progressions, harmonies, melodies, themes, and leads. Hofgesang treats the acoustic guitar as a multi-dimensional tool. He stacks layer upon layer, creating a rich, full-bodied sound that makes this material simultaneously complex yet incredibly easy to listen to. The interplay between the main rhythm tracks and the subtle, melodic lead lines is brilliant. It sounds exactly how an intimate acoustic session should sound, warm, resonant, and technically proficient without being overly flashy. The textures he builds keep the listeners completely focused from start to finish.

In a duo format, the rhythm section has to be handled creatively. You do not have a massive drum kit to lean on for dynamics. Instead, the hand percussion and drum elements utilized across this album make everything incredibly groovy, detailed, and dynamic. You will stumble upon so many cleverly arranged rhythmic patterns that do far more than just keep time. The percussion dictates the groove and pace of the record, keeping the guitars in line while providing a steady, reliable heartbeat. There are brilliant, percussive acrobatics tucked away in the mix, a well-placed tambourine shake, a steady kick drum pulse, or the sharp crack of hand percussion that add a massive amount of depth to the acoustic foundation. Hidden Cabins have taken the raw ethics of the post-hardcore and punk scenes and successfully translated them into a stunning indie alt-folk format. This album is a must-listen for anyone who profoundly loves alternative, indie, folk, and acoustic rock music. It is a masterpiece of modern alt-folk rock that proves you do not need a wall of distortion to make a heavy impact. The songwriting is sharp, the musicianship is outstanding, and the emotional resonance is vividly present in the mix. Whether you are throwing the 12-inch vinyl on your turntable or streaming it through your headphones, this record demands your full attention. Do yourself a massive favor and let Hidden Cabins provide the soundtrack to your next quiet, introspective evening.