Cut off Your Hands' debut LP is 2009's frontrunner for the OK Go Award for most shameless rip-off of The Futureheads. The same bouncy melodies, the same herky-jerky rhythms -- Nick Johnston, the singer, even sounds just like Barry Hyde. It's like Cut off Your Hands threw some chirpy synth over This Is Not the World and called it a day. And it doesn't help that most of their lyrics are saccharine enough to make Blink-182 appear thoughtful and mature. Take this excerpt from “Oh Girl” as an example: “Oh girl/ Can you come over to my house?/ We can do things that we've never done/ We can just talk; it can be such fun.”
You and I's more brooding numbers are the places where the band begins to carve out a niche for itself. Both “In the Name of Jesus Christ” and “Someone Like Daniel,” two rather dour meditations on religious emptiness and abandonment, feature lovely acoustic guitar work by Michael Ramirez, augmented by subtle studio embellishments (the schoolyard samples playing throughout the latter song are particularly moving). These two tracks not only reveal a touch of emotional depth, but they also hint at how strong Johnston and crew can be at songcraft when they're not working in lock-step imitation of other artists.
You can't fault the band's energy or enthusiasm, but You and I doesn't bring enough of its own ideas to the table to make it essential listening. Cut off Your Hands have shown a glimmer of promise as songwriters, but they would do well to find their own voice in an already glutted aesthetic.
1. Happy as Can Be
2. Expectations
3. Oh Girl
4. Turn Cold
5. It Doesn't Matter
6. Heartbreak
7. In the Name of Jesus Christ
8. Let's Get Out of Here
9. Still Fond
10. Closed Eyes
11. Nostalgia
12. Someone Like Daniel