One Track Mind

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On September 15th, The Idle Hands released their premiere full-length, The Hearts We Broke on the Way to the Show. Led by Irish expatriate brothers Ciaran and Criostoir, the Minneapolis quintet first showed their mettle nearly two years ago with the four song Loaded EP. That release was produced by Mark Needham (whose resume includes work with Bloc Party and The Killers) and showcased a young band whose sound was already polished in all the right ways. The tight set, like the new LP, packed a punch with its effortless would-be-hits that straddled the line between Comet Gain‘s literate, shambling indie-pop, The Psychedelic Furs’ quivering vocal melodies and densely packed guitars, and The Sounds‘ synth-laced, arena-lite hooks.

The Idle Hands’ new record kicks off the same way as their EP did, with the invigorating “Loaded,” a four-minute track that coasts forward adroitly on a slick tundra of inconspicuous synthesizers. Things blossom in the opening moments, with a standard but effective rock backbeat giving the song its pulse and a sparse guitar figure rounding out the mix, the whole thing painting a very new-wave influenced scene. After that, it doesn’t take long for “Loaded” to shift into high gear, especially in the form of its cheeky chorus. “All the new-wave boys with the no-wave girls get loaded… All the unrequited emo boys get loaded,” sings Ciaran over a bed of churning guitars in what has to be one of the purest hooks of the year.

At times, “Loaded” veers unnervingly close to sounding too well produced or overly calculated; however, The Idle Hands imbue the “finished”-ness of their product with enough of a cocksure swagger to pull it off. It may not be an artistic statement, but it’s a nearly perfect rock song.