Hands Like Houses are Australia’s hottest new band, having released their second album ‘Unimagine’ last year, gaining a whole legion of fans. Hitting the road, they’ve played every where they can and are back in the UK later this year supporting Bury Tomorrow on their UK Headline Tour, taking in venues like The Institute in Birmingham and the legendary KOKO in Camden.
After releasing ‘Unimagine’ fans have been waiting for a follow up release and they have it in a reworked EP titled ‘Reimagine’ taking 5 tracks from that previous release and rewriting them in a different way. Having wanted to show the songs the same respect as they were first shown when they were first written, the 5 track EP has come out very well.
Reordering the tracks as well, as the first song to be given the ‘reimaging’ is ‘Shapeshifters’, retitled ‘recollect’. The new version has a Deaf Havana twist to it, which gives it a new lease of life. Trenton Woodley’s vocals were shown to be impressive on ‘Unimagine’ but they hit a whole new level on ‘Reimagine’, especially on this first track. A jangling guitar riff and a dreamy bassline, combined with a chorus of claps gets the EP off to a great start.
‘Reimagine’ has a very dreamy effect throughout the course of the five songs, taking in many different influences and effects. Some great guitar playing comes from Matt Cooper and Alex Pearson, showing growth both as players and writers. ‘No Parallels’ (retitled ‘rediscover’) is still a catchy song, showing that Hands Like Houses have many different arrows in their bows, and all those arrows are differently colored. ‘A Tale of Outer Suburbia’ (retitled as ‘release’) has become a proper ballad number, with haunting vocals and intimate instrumentals, this could easily be slipped into a live set and be a real lighters in the air moment for the band.
Overall, the EP may seem like a stopgap to some people, but it’s an incredible show of talent by the band, to be able to rework some of the best songs of their career so far and still make every one of them essential listening for fans. If you’ve never listened to Hands Like Houses, this EP is a great start.
ADAM ROSARIO