In a perfect world, one where you never have to wake up to go to work at 2pm after going and seeing the premier of Spiderman 3 last night, you’d all climb into my bus at 4pm on a 70 degree day, I’d drive us all down to a vacant river and we’d tie our tubes together and float down in unison. Also, we’d have all the food in the world that we wanted, and none of us would be fat anymore, we’d all be svelte and attractive, and we’d have really sweet girlfriends who know a lot about good music, but not quite as much as we do. And in the middle of our ark of tubes, a boom box would play a CD of anthems that was written just for our trip.
Unfortunately, I do have to go to work today, I don’t own a bus, my tube has a hole in it, plus the rivers in Eau Claire are all highly polluted, I don’t have any money for food, and as far as I know, none of us are svelte, and most certainly not attractive. Sweet girlfriends are out of the question.
We’ve got one thing going for us though, and it might be enough to save our gloomy little lives. Portland, Oregon’s The Shaky Hands came through in the clutch with that CD of anthems that we asked them to make!
Their big-hearted, self titled CD is a collection of light, jangly guitars, soft go-go drum beats, bouncy bass lines and catchy, warbled vocals. The songs seem to slide into one another with ease, and at no point does the band really ask you to take them too seriously. The lyrics remind us that it’s a warm day, tomorrow’s forecast looks even better and we’re all together to make the best of it.
One does get the feeling though, about ¾ of the way through the CD, that the best 10 songs would have made an even better release. Towards the end, there is quite a bit of wading through the shallows for the last track. When it comes though, you’re happy you didn‘t let yourself drown back there, as the song “Summer’s Life,” is one of the very best on the CD, and really puts our joyous trip to a close.
With Spring in full bloom and Summer right around the corner, don’t be too surprised if you find yourself falling in casual-love with our new friends The Shaky Hands.
This is the album’s second track, “The Sleepless.” Enjoy, sunshine.
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