Following the success of You & I, the debut album from New Zealand quartet Cut Off Your Hands, comes the release of their sophomore album Hollow. Brimming with a variety of sounds from post-punks brittle rhythms to atmospheric Brit-pop and tinges of Americana Hollow propels the band to new heights avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump.
Rooting the record in bright reverbed vocals, dense harmonies and jangly guitars, Hollow is packed from start to finish with fully realized songs. The glowing 'You Should Know Better' opens with shimmering guitars while the standout 'Nausea' evokes Echo & The Bunnymen with its elegant poetry and yearning chorus. Elsewhere the melodic, whimsical 'By Your Side' and melodramatic 'Oh Hell' are smart Brit-pop tunes.
Cut Off Your Hands has plenty of soul but aren't short on more muscular rock tracks like the runaway energy of the wildly catchy 'Fooling No One' and 'Down and Out' with jangly electric guitars, and urgent drums the latter half of the album races, thundering towards a rather abrupt finish with the sobering 'Buried.'
Though Hollow swings between various tempos and sounds, the record never gets caught up in a single track instead, it's balance is in solid songwriting with Brit-pop melodies and a post-punk state of mind. Hollow, isn't flawless but a well rounded effort from the indie darlings.
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