Don’t get me wrong, Hands Like Houses are a good band. Their latest full-length offering Anon. (2018) was a very enjoyable, albeit vastly different, record. This self-titled EP, though, seems a little derivative.
There’s not a bad song on here. That statement might sound quiet contradictory but hear me out. This is an EP compromised of five average pop rock tracks. I enjoy all of them if they’re on in the background, but when I listen closely my mind suddenly finds the marks on my wall to be deeply intriguing.
‘Space’ is easily the worst here, not really going anywhere. ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Stranger’ manage to lift themselves just above the average mark. ‘The Water’ and ‘Wired’ sit comfortably on the average line. And this is the body of work they choose to self title?
Given the quality of stand alone single ‘Headrush’ and the band’s previous four records, I’m pretty sure this is just a blip. That being said, if it isn’t, these guys change so much that the next release won’t sound like this anyway, so all is well. They always strive for progress, it’s just that this time they’ve regressed instead.