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9 out of 10
I remember reviewing Clock Hands Strangle's first album, Redshift/Blueshift a couple of years ago. I was on holiday with my (then) girlfriend, and she hated it. I should probably have realised at that point that it really wasn't meant to be, because Redshift/Blueshift was a great album. Distaccati is, I suspect, even better. Most bands and singers purveying similar Dylan / Joni Mitchellesque folk tread the same old tired paths lyrically, either cod (or otherwise) politics or genre standard love songs. Sometimes this is great, but it's nice to hear a band pushing the boundaries a little bit now and then. In a fashion not dissimilar to the Weakerthans Clock Hands Strangle mix in literature and philosophy with the more usual themes, and they do it in such a way that more casual listeners are not alienated, but those who pay attention are rewarded.
I'm covering Distaccati and Live at WMSE in the same review 'cos I think they work really well as companion pieces, and because if I wrote two reviews I'd probably just be repeating myself. The live EP contains four tracks from the album performed live at WMSE, whatever WMSE might be. The live versions aren't hugely different from the recordings on the album, on the whole, but there's enough there to make it worthwhile purchasing both.
Definitely one to try out if you're not averse to psychadelia tinged 60s folk rock. In fact, even if you have no experience of psychadelia tinged 60s folk rock you should probably give Clock Hands Strangle a go anyway.
Listen: www.myspace.com/clockhandsstrangle
Tracklist:
Distaccati:
1. Distaccati
2. Untitled
3. Desert Music
4. As Is
5. New York
6. To a Meteorite in a Museum
7. The Moon Looks Back
8. A Stone Questions its Sculptor
9. Cotton
10. Ode to Green
11. Maria
Live at WMSE:
1. As Is
2. Desert Music
3. Distaccati
4. The Moon Looks Back
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