The new release by New Zealand foursome Cut Off Your Hands opens with a beat that builds quickly to produce the kind of music that instantly makes you feel happy. A promising start to the EP which only gets better when the second song ‘Happy As Can Be’ hits you straight in the face and tells you to sit down, listen and appreciate what good music should sound like. ‘Happy As Can Be’ is without doubt the stand out track. While the others are good this is just spectacular, sounding a little like Glasvegas if they had moved to New Zealand when they were younger and had a happier upbringing. I can only imagine, having never seen Cut Off Your Hands live, that this song would produce one hell of a reaction from the crowd, with everyone singing along to every word.

Tracks 3 (Shorelines) and 4 (Nostalgia) aren’t as catchy but are brilliant in their own way, slowly growing on you as you listen to them more and more. These two songs bring you back down from the high you’ve just experienced from listening to ‘Happy As Can Be’. ‘Nostalgia’ in particular shows a more solemn side to the band and Secret track ‘An Iron Sleep’ includes a harp which seems to compliment singer Nick Johnston’s voice perfectly.

Produced by Bernard Butler this EP is a sign of great things to come from Cut Off Your Hands. The album, ‘You and I’ is already out in their native land and Australia and is due for release everywhere else in January 2009.
A good reason to look forward to the new year.

http://www.myspace.com/cutoffyourhands