Highlights: Closer To Home, For Your Pleasure, Take It Out,
Little Bones
You don’t even need to
know that Call The Doctor was the
name of Sleater-Kinney’s second album (1996) to get it: Call The Doctor are
like Blondie and Sleater-Kinney rolled into one. And that’s the sort of
combination you just can’t say no to. Hands
Will Shake is catchy, exciting indie rock music that eschews the riot grrrl
aesthetics for irresistible pop-punk sensibilities.
Hands Will Shake is a bit like The Bangles if The Bangles had more
substance and edge. The guitars sound juicy and tasteful all through the record
– whether they’re doing infectious pop-punk anthems (“Wrecking Ball”) or
slightly mellower, more atmospheric stuff (“Stood Beside Her”). Though it is definitely
the former category where the main excitement lies. Propulsive head-bangers
like “Closer To Home” and “Take It Out” are unforgettable, and “Seventeen”
beats Sex Pistols’ version by some distance.
Stylistically, there’s
very little variation here, and one might find Hands Will Shake somewhat grating after song 5, but the songs are
all good. In fact, the only lapse of taste I could detect was the dumb chorus (actually
the only moment with male vocals) in the otherwise terrific “Flaws” (irony). The
lengthy, multi-part “Little Bones” that closes the album is a clear highlight,
though, with the intriguing final chant “I was told I would never be a pilot, I
was told I would never be part of it” that sounds a lot greater than it reads.
Great, confident
songwriting makes Hands Will Shake a gutsy, hook-filled gem.
8/10
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