To those who believe that the Empire Records soundtrack is quite possibly, the best soundtrack, then maybe you’ll appreciate my new discovery based out of New Zealand–Cut Off Your Hands. Instantly reminiscent of early 90′s grunge and alternative music, the album as a whole is truly an indie rock album that should not go unnoticed. The somewhat higher pitched guitars, swelling choruses and a Morrissey-sounding voice reminds me of great bands like Throwing Muses and The The who perfected the idea of 90′s love songs without being ridiculously cheesy. Pitchfork, who gave it a shockingly high (for them) score of 7.2, said of the band, “‘Nausea”s easy-moving rhythm highlights one of the band’s strengths–they never sound plodding or like they’re struggling to push the songs along” (check out the review here.). And that’s the most enjoyable part of this band–while sometimes you just want a song to end or move along, the album makes perfect sense. Moving from song to song with complete ease, allowing the listeners to fully grasp each song but not holding on so that it doesn’t overstay its welcome. While yes, it may be said that a lot of the songs sound the same, but I believe it is with purpose–to create a sweeping 34 minute album that doesn’t allow listeners to breathe. How utterly beautiful that there are no jarring stops or switches from types of genres–instead it’s almost like an ode to the alternative music of the nineties. “Hollowed Out” seems to be the anthem of the album, put in somewhat the middle of the album, it brings the listeners back to what the album is best at (which of course, is continually toe-tapping). Never truly allowing themselves to slow down, the second half of the album is perhaps even more raucous than the first. They know how to put an album together that has to be listened to as a whole and not just a mix and match of songs everywhere. This New Zealand band will go places, especially if they continue to improve on their sound, I know I’ll be a definite fan for a while.
Check out their website here.
Or their Facebook here.
