Turns out that despite wanting to be broad-minded and open to anything, I do subconsciously and unwittingly hold prejudices. These are, I must stress, almost all musical. And mostly about jazz, probably. On reading the write-up for this offering by Handle, I almost didn’t bother.
‘Incorporating a diverse range of influences, from samba to no wave, Handle, a three-piece from Manchester (now based between Manchester/London/Brussels) make a uniquely minimal sound, buoyed by poetic, urgent vocals. Handle songs burn brightly with energy, life and vibrancy, they sound like your racing heart,’ said the PR. Samba? The fuck?
In the event, it’s far better than described, perhaps because I’m struggling to locate the samba. Moreover, this goes all-out on the quirky. It’s a bit Talking Heads, and equally a bit PiL.
It starts out with clattering beats, jarring guitars, and woozy bass that conglomerate into a disorientating backdrop to all-over-the-shop vocals that lands somewhere between Foetus and Shriekback. It’s stuttering, jarring forms that define the album, but for all of the off-kilter, chaotic stylings, ‘In Threes’ is big on rhythm and generous on fulsome grooves, and there’s a buoyancy and bounce at the heart of much of the material here.
|
|
