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Hollow: Cut Off Your Hands

Cut Off Your Hands have made significant moves and shakes off shore and pressed all the right buttons in their career thus far to gain cred as one of the more exciting bands to come out of Godzone in recent years. If ‘Hollow’, the group’s sophomoric LP release, aimed to build on their awesomely angular past efforts with layers of maturity and atmosphere, then it has succeeded. The opening track You Should Do Better typifies the direction of the album; a laid back shuffle supports guitar tones blended into a timbre akin to warm summer rain while lead singer Nick Johnston croons distantly. Stand out track Hollowed Out is built on a similar blueprint, with a little more energy and appeal. As the songs roll onto one another beautifully, you get a sense of overview in concept; that is to say, this is an album, not a collection of songs. Perhaps therein lies its only fault, as without active listening the tunes occasionally threaten to merge into a new wave of vibrant guitars and melancholy reverberation. While this is a slick and polished release from NZ’s favourite indie sons, it does take a few listens to find its hooks, and emotional centre.

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