Superhand –
American Teeth (Malt Barn Recordings)
CD/DL
1 June 2015
Alternative
electronica rock ensemble release their new album.
Make no
mistake, American Teeth is fine stuff.
With just seven tracks, Superhand have undoubtedly created one of the
finest long players of the year fusing rock, electronica, blues and soul
nothing more than skilfully - and bordering on genius.
Opener, the
gargantuan Bass And Guns stakes a claim for being one of the best album openers
ever. That’s no exaggeration. At over ten and a half minutes long it
bridges and more than fills the gap that you didn’t know existed between
Goldbug’s cover of Whole Lotta Love and Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole, but
it’s also much more than that. From the
opening piano led vocal of (what turns out to be the incredible) Inga
Carlstrom, we are taken on a trip of rock and psychedelia driven power. As if that wasn’t enough, the song, which
could quite easily have ideas for three or four separate pieces, throws in huge
slices of honky tonk piano and even has time for a reggae interlude.
You will
never have heard anything quite like Bass And Guns before, that’s a
guarantee. With assistance from fellow
band member Leck Fischer and guest artists including The Cure’s Jason Cooper
and Jim Hunt’s brass section often favoured by the likes of Primal Scream and
Amy Winehouse, it’s excessive sounding ten minutes flies by in a manic
flash. It is, without doubt one of the
best pieces of music you will ever hear.
How
Superhand then continued to make the reminder of the album sound quite as good must
have been difficult to say the least.
Over a seven track album they do manage to again involve many musical
directions making the whole affair one that is a ‘must listen’. Second track 360 Turns touches on Emiliana
Torrini territory circa Life In The Time Of Science, where subtle pianos are
allowed to stand up for themselves with strings and dramatic orchestration, but
Carlstrom’s voice is again the pivotal focus.
Discipline
Me sees the sound turn dirty electronica with driving guitar riff and crunching
drum sounds which although bearing resemblances to Goldfrapp’s most exciting
period between Black Cherry and Supernature, also attempts (and succeeds) in
creating a pseudo masochist theme which leaves enough emptiness between
instrumentation breaks to add to the overall eclecticism.
Slightly
more experimental Crystal Piano turns the album on its head as its rock and
blues direction then veers to a gentle wisp of an interlude which not only
allows for respite but also for the reminder of the album to follow. Crystal
Piano is calming but also interesting enough to allow for staying power and
retains the interest quite easily.
Mass Pain
builds on the piano theme, and the sequence of tracks on American Teeth slowly
starts to makes complete sense confirming that album making isn’t just about throwing
tracks together – it’s how they are presented that takes as much
importance. Slowly rising to add
quickening percussion halfway through it again drops to an understated
sound. Penultimate track B-Books
continues to slow the pace in time for the haunting brilliance of The Boy with
its cinematic feel ends a quite remarkable album.
Almost in
two halves of high powered rock then experimental meandering, American Teeth is
a fine fine beast which on many occasion has to be heard to be believed.
Pre-order
America Teeth at maltbarn.bandcamp.com
9/10
Links
Malt Barn Recordings
Superhand website
Superhand on Twitter
Superhand on Facebook
Published on Louder Than War 8/05/15 - here
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