Hands Like Houses Puts The Roar In Romance

Hands Like Houses, a power obsessed rock act out of Australia, gets plenty of room to air it out on its new single "New Romantics". That title conjures up nifty memories of 1980s New Romantic bands like Duran Duran. Trust me when I tell you Hands Like Houses sounds nothing like those glamour pin-ups with the exotic MTV videos. Hands Like Houses rolls into fifth gear right at the outset and doesn't stop to notice who's in their rear view catching up too fast to be believed. These guys rumble like thunder in a Texas summer rainstorm. Nobody phones it in. Trenton Woodley vocals go to that sweet spot that transcends conscious awareness. Each note brims with purpose, direction, and no small degree of name taking. Ordinarily I'd be all over a band like ugly on an ape for sticking to one chord range and not daring to be different. Not the case here because the range Hands Like Houses opts for has way more zing than it has a right to demand. Joel Tyrell, your bass makes me swoon. I would follow that down the darket alley, no mace to be found. Matt Parkitny hammers away on the drums, a man awash in timely desperation. He makes his contribution last, a gesture mandating he'd like to be remembered as something other that a pretty face in a rock band making people squirm with unsteady psychological content. Want proof the boys mean business. True confessions starts from the top of the lyric sheet. How does one self-medicate on reality. I tend to view it as a drug injected into your veins kicking and screaming. Anyway, it's a novel approach to something which can leave us all a tad weary in spots. "Pulling up the floor to go deeper down". Wow. This guy either needs to come off his meds or start up on new ones that don't put him into such a destructive streak. It's all about finding yourself before it's too late. You go around in circles only to be stuck in the same place...circling oblivion's toilet bowl. Matt "Coops" Cooper gently seasons the proceedings on lead guitar. Really though it is Joel's bass that has "New Romantics" hitting the ground running. This band gets how cohesion can take you as far as your imagination will allow. Skies open up. Massive floods explode. Communication becomes less strained, more satisfying. You sense team effort piloted this plane and a smooth landing on the runway isn't very far fetched in the slightest. When all players get on the same page in the playbook, the results can't help but be electrifying. Electricity, super-charged combustion, piss and vinegar, whatever you wish to label it. Hands Like Houses keeps the legacy of strong Aussie bands alive and kicking. "New Romantics" goes on like a new roll of paint spread out from a comfortably reliable old formula.