Mr. Q: ‘Hang on mate’
Me: ‘What?’
Mr. Q: ‘Rewind to that last bit and turn it up’
Me: ‘Why?’
Mr. Q: ‘Just do it…. it sounds like he’s got a really bad cold’
Me: ‘Um… yeh… you’re right’
That’s a general summary of a conversation held between my flat-mate and myself whilst listening to track 3 of this short little 4-tracker. Nasal afflictions aside though and Held By Hands have created an exciting EP.
What I admire most about this record is how it’s completely different to anything I’ve heard from a British band in a long, long time… possibly ever?! and I’ll raise my proverbial hat to that. There’s a stupid amount of diversity within each track and they’ve obviously put a lot of thought into the arrangement of the song structures. The stripped back piano parts, various percussion instruments and delicate vocals on occasions are mesmerising, and I’d say the same for the violin parts if they weren’t so hideously out of tune during opening track ‘Found It Hard To Find Your Feet.’ … and yes, if you’re a fan of Reuben’s Accomplice you’ll spot the comparisons straight away, especially on ‘Trading On Past Treasures,’ but I’m willing to overlook that and congratulate these northern lads on doing something a bit different.
My one real area of frustration whilst listening to this CD was the poor recording quality. It dampens the excitement of the record and unfortunately stops me from scoring this release any higher. It’s just that I know if the production (and tuning of instruments) was better I’d be raving even more about this. However, HBH have recently signed to Jealous so lets be hoping that this one obvious area for improvement does wonders for them next time around. Definitely one for the future… as long the singer blows his nose between vocal takes.
Rich Rowe
