Canberra’s Hands Like Houses have always had a knack for abstract concepts woven into deeply relatable lyricism, take 2013’s ‘A Tale of Outer Suburbia’ for example (a personal favourite) that narrates the perspective of a bear waking up from hibernation to see the destruction of his land, yet lyrically can also relate to the doom of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed by change. This time around, they’ve done it again with latest release ‘The Water’.
As Hands Like Houses’ frontman Trenton Woodley explains, “I picture the protagonist as some beautiful, fantastical, strange and surreal sea creature that has come to live among us, but wants to go home” the song carries us through the feeling of being in a limbo of enjoying the familiarity of where you’ve come to be, yet at the same time uncertainty causing an eruption of urgency in questioning our true place.
Verses are paired with a simple yet gripping bassline as it’s pre-chorus builds and builds into a compellingly punchy chorus, “don’t make it harder than it has to be / this place was never meant for someone like me” the track is just made to scream from the depths of one’s soul.
Alongside this, the band have announced an upcoming self-titled EP out this October that is full of vulnerability and self-discovery. Written over a 10-day period cooped up in a house together, the band have noted it as their most uninhibited body of work to date.
“We really had to put ourselves through the ringer while in recording so we could figure out collectively what we wanted the EP to be and what would make it feel purposeful, artistic and substantial in the end” Woodley shares that communication and expression were the centrepieces for the EP, illustrated in the artwork for both the EP and ‘The Water’s single art.
‘The Water’s single art illustrates the signing of the word ‘water’ in AUSLAN, as the EP’s is literally some hands in the shape of a house; hands like houses. The artworks aim to shine a spotlight on AUSLAN interpreters and the AUSLAN community’s tireless work throughout bushfire and COVID news coverage, and the struggles the deaf community are facing in this current climate.
You can catch the band’s livestream show this Saturday August 29th for ‘Live In Ya Local’ with supports Sputnik Sweetheart and AYA YVES, 8pm AEST.
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