Cut Off Your Hands: Hollow

Cut Off Your Hands
Hollow
Rating: Grrrr

Back in the 80s and early 90s, Sunday nights were always set aside for 120 Minutes on MTV (yes, back in the day when 90% of their programming was still videos. This was well before the Internet and easy access to music that was not Top 40. Back then, our only sources were publications, college radio stations, record stores, word of mouth, and the beloved 120 Minutes. Without that show it is unlikely I would have heard of half the bands that are now part and parcel of my being. Until developing my taste in electronic music, the music that interested me the most was from guitar-based bands like The Smiths, Chameleons, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Railway Children, House of Love, Kitchens of Distinction, R.E.M., and The Church. Loved all the ringing/chiming guitars and driving beats associated with these bands and voraciously sought out similar bands. As my taste in music has evolved and changed over the years, I still hold a fondness for simple, guitar driven bands who have a good ear for melody. New Zealand quartet Cut Off Your Hands could easily have held a second hour slot on 120 Minutes, their songs evoking those bands listed above; reverentially but not slavishly. There is a lovely energy to their songs, the guitars chiming and clear, with a dreamy backing section. Their previous album (produced by ex-Suede member Bernard Butler and Smiths producer Stephen Street) found them leaning too heavily on Britpop and post-punk angst of bands like Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, and Maximo Park.

With Hollow, they have not completely forsaken those roots, but have focused more on melody instead of just pure energy this time. First single "Fooling No One" is a perfect mix of the two styles, rushing out the gate in a blur of drums and acoustic guitars and yelping vocals before settling into a jangly groove reminiscent of The Church in their earlier, more minimalist style.



There is a lovely mix of styles on Hollow that keep the band from sounding too one note or too indebted to one influence. From the Smithsian opener "You Should Do Better" with its shuffling drum and intricately ringing guitars and warbling, over-the-top vocal,



to the guitar rave-ups "Hollowed Out" and "Down and Out" that sound like the direction Echo and the Bunnymen should have taken before descending into bloat and excess,

Cut Off Your Hands - Hollowed Out by ology

or more gentle tracks like "Nausea" that capture that era of music so well:



But even though the album is not incredibly innovative from a style standpoint, there are moments of interesting juxtaposition, like the charming song "All It Takes" with its lovely Railway Children jangle mixed in with some odd Haircut 100 sounding background yelps and chirpy keyboards.



Hollow is not an album that announces itself as the next big thing or that is revolutionary, it is simply a good guitar, pop album. While I do have an affinity for bands that push the boundaries of what is pop music, there is something to be said sometimes for a band that just puts out a well-crafted album of just great songs. Hollow is record that reveals its charms subtly, but sticks with you for days.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.