The Shaky Hands : The Shaky Hands

<a href="Reviews/Album_Reviews/The_Shaky_Hands_%3A_The_Shaky_Hands/"><img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/shakyhandsshakyhands.jpg" alt=" " /></a> On their self-titled debut, Portland, Oregon’s Shaky Hands deliver some nice alt-road indie-pop that is unfortunately marred by poor vocals.  Time and time...
6.9 Holocene
2007 

 On their self-titled debut, Portland, Oregon’s Shaky Hands deliver some nice alt-road indie-pop that is unfortunately marred by poor vocals.  Time and time again on The Shaky Hands, fairly melodic tracks with winning beats are hampered by singer/guitarist Nick Delffs’ nasal voice.
Some songs are strong enough to overcome this, but others end up just being nice pieces that are regrettably taken down a notch.

Twenty-first century indie rock has brought back a lot of great things from the eighties alternative scene, like synthesizers, strong bass beats, and The Pixies.  But one thing that didn’t need to come back was the high, reedy voices of such quirky eighties alt-stars as Gordon Gano (of The Violent Femmes) and the ‘Two Johns’ of They Might Be Giants.  Yet come back their voices did, out of the throats of today’s quirky indie-stars, like Alec Ounsworth (of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), Isaac Brock (of Modest Mouse), and The Shaky Hands’ Nick Delffs.

The Shaky Hands opens strong with the melodic-but-driving “Whales Sing”, and other numbers certainly stand out, like the flowing “We Will Rise”, the fine alt-country “Another World Pt. 2”, and the final two tracks, “Hold It Up” and “Summer’s Life”.  “Hold” has a powerful beat, with a kicking drum solo to boot, while the strumming melancholy of “Summer’s” is accompanied by fine, choral, dual vocals.

But the vocals being a plus on The Shaky Hands’ ender is the exception to the rule.  Largely, whenever The Shaky Hands slow up, or otherwise make Delffs’ vocals more prominent, they suffer.  It starts on the record’s slower second and third tracks, “The Sleepless” and “Why & How Come”, and reaches its nadir in the middle, with “I’m Alive” and “Sunburns”.  Both are more stripped down, instrumentally, and Delffs’ voice is more audible, and more grating.  During the instrumental parts of “Sunburns”, one can hear a great song, but then Delffs starts singing again, and it’s all over…

The Shaky Hands are a young band, and as with most young bands, they have their highs, and their lows.  The beats of drummer Colin Anderson, bassist Mayhaw Hoons, and percussionist Nathan Delffs (Nick’s brother) carry well from driving road music to lighter dream-pop to more rollicking indie-country.  Guitarists Nick Delffs and Jeff Lehman have some nice strums and picks, if not adding enough substance at times.  But it is Nick Delffs’ shrill vocals that are The Shaky Hands’ real problem.  Hopefully, like all the young bands that become old bands, The Shaky Hands will work it all out.

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