Album Review//Just Handshakes - Say It
The art school like
cover art to Just Handshakes’ album Say It is something you can’t help stare
at. If you’re in the habit of looking at the jacket of your music before taking
it off for listening then it’s entirely possible to look at this sleeve and
have no clue what the contents are like. And that’s we love about it – it stands
as a contemplative piece of pencil art and perhaps contains a subtle hint of the
ingredients of the album. Only a listen can truly tell…
Indeed, when the
album opens with the loop listenable London Bound – which we first heard by
sheer coincidence when on the way to London – and it’s an introduction that
impresses. There’s an atmospheric intro, the vocals peeping almost nervously out
of the mix like a very beautiful something, and then the chorus hits, with its
energetic lo-fi power. On the whole album it’s arguably one of the best moments
– a song that captures the sheer emotions of going to a city as cool as London.
The rest of the album
takes a similar approach - choruses that creep out of the audio mix like the
most pleasant surprise possible. A comfortable melancholia hangs over the
recordings and whilst the production keeps things tight, the music speaks of a certain
freedom in its often bare styling’s. The album’s title track is a prime
example, the guitar and vocals speaking in a sad unison that transcends the
whole relationship themed subject of the song completely.
Other highlights
include Beat pop meets Lo Fi perfection of Dead and Alive and Stick Around, a
song that brims with a burning musicality and a chorus that builds up in steps,
almost like the footsteps towards a mysterious room. On the whole Say It is a melancholic
journey from A to B and as you listen more you’ll notice those little touches
that make it all the more rewarding.
Reviewed by Sebastian
Gahan.