Shaky Hands - EP

Album Review

It wasn't so uncommon in the early '80s for post-punk/new wave bands to feature slashing guitar and nervous guy vocals (Gang of Four, anyone?). But the style that lay dormant for much of the '90s came roaring back to life circa the early 21st century, as bands such as Cut Off Your Hands make no bones about their admiration of "skinny tie" bands from a bygone era — especially throughout their 2007 full-length debut, Shaky Hands. While the majority of new wave renaissance bands seem to hail from the U.S., Cut Off Your Hands are an aberration, as they hail from New Zealand — and whose band name was originally the title of this six-song EP (they were forced to change it after learning another band had snagged it). Lots of jittery rhythms, bouncy bass, and shimmering guitars devoid of distortion abound here, especially on such prickly ditties as "You & I" and "Expectations," the latter of which musically sounds like the Strokes on speed. The emergence of Cut Off Your Hands shows once and for all that the "new wave" of new wave bands is indeed a global proposition.