Human Hand, Animal Band

Album Review

Rhythm of Black Lines give the listener a trippy experience with Human Hand, Animal Band, warbling from chaotic and unlistenable to hypnotic and meditative. Multi-instrumental pulses swirl back and forth, making tracks like "One Red Eye" and the various parts of "PJS" surprising at times, giving refreshing relief from some of the annoyance. With its treated guitars, horns, strings, and keyboards, the music throughout Human Hand, Animal Band is very interesting, owing respect to many influences, from Sonic Youth to Bauhaus to Tripping Daisy to Jane's Addiction. The vocal work, lyrics, and delivery do not add a lot to this interesting music and can be a bit much. These are long tracks that listeners should let envelop them — one must go with the flow on Human Hand, Animal Band or one will get frustrated. The last half of Human Hand, Animal Band seems to be more successful than the first, holding on to the hazy, druggish nature of the first half but focusing the dream to create an interesting melancholy on tracks "Thames Yawner" and "Dark Mountain (Performance for Two)." The Blonde Redhead-esque track "Is It In or Is It Out?" features Omar Chavez in a better position on the mike than Clint Newsom, displaying a successful delivery of constrained vocals against the wandering music. Human Hand, Animal Band is an epic head-scratcher from Austin's Rhythm of Black Lines.