Hello Handshake – Sublime Machines (hellohandshake.org)
The debut album by this Charlotte, NC, sextet (a quartet at the time of recording) immediately caught my attention due to the involvement of Evan Plante, a former Richmond resident who, during his time in RVA, made an impression on the local scene with his bands Forcefedglass and Light The Fuse And Run, among others [full disclosure: Evan played guitar in my band, Tri State Killing Spree, from early 1999 until late 2000]. However, those of you who come to this album expecting chaotic grindcore or uptempo post-hardcore rock n’ roll might be a bit thrown by what you find.
Hello Handshake – Sublime Machines (hellohandshake.org)
The debut album by this Charlotte, NC, sextet (a quartet at the time of recording) immediately caught my attention due to the involvement of Evan Plante, a former Richmond resident who, during his time in RVA, made an impression on the local scene with his bands Forcefedglass and Light The Fuse And Run, among others [full disclosure: Evan played guitar in my band, Tri State Killing Spree, from early 1999 until late 2000]. However, those of you who come to this album expecting chaotic grindcore or uptempo post-hardcore rock n’ roll might be a bit thrown by what you find. Hello Handshake’s debut album is the work of maturing artists who’ve come to care a lot less about genre than about musical progression and exploring ideas that keep their interest. This is an admirable raison d’etre for a band, and certainly it’s good that Hello Handshake are first and foremost pleasing themselves with their music. However, the resulting collection of songs can be a bit bewildering for an outsider.
It took me a long time to decide how I felt about this album. The way its relatively undistorted modern rock sound combines with the more complex and less accessible song structures to be found here makes this a confounding first listen. It’s hard to say whether this album is designed for overt commercial appeal or whether its polished production and straightforward rock elements are just disguising the subtle complexities at work here. Opening track “Tide Pools,” which begins with a subdued bassline that recalls early Jane’s Addiction, moves into a slow, polished prog-rock groove that lasts for most of its duration, featuring a lead melody that’s played in unison by both lead guitar and vibraphone. But then, in its last 30 seconds, the song suddenly leaps into a double-time, distorted-guitar version of that lead riff, a jarring transition that gives a quick vision of what the song would have sounded like as a punk rock tune. Just as quickly, it drops back into the slower, more contemplative version of the riff that has dominated throughout the song, then quietly drifts into the next track. The decision to throw in this brief double-time version of the song’s main melody is one that seems like it’d never occur to the typical prog-rock group–the kind of Pink Floyd/Radiohead/Dave Matthews Band-influenced group that Hello Handshake often appears to be over the course of this album.
If that comparison sounds like a less-than-ringing endorsement, there’s a good reason for that. Upon my first listen to Sublime Machines, I was confused and a bit put off by it. Upon further listening, though, I realized that it was growing on me. I started to see the album’s many positive qualities, from the low, ominous basslines throughout the album, which reveal an influence from darker, heavier sounds than seems immediately apparent; to the solid choruses that appear at times, as on “Oceans Dry;” to the subtly complex riffing on songs like “We Care.” However, a great deal of this album is based around laid-back grooves that, were a listener to give them less than their full attention, could easily become sonic wallpaper. If I’d only ever listened to it once, that’s exactly how I would have thought of it.
Ultimately, Sublime Machines is a significant achievement–a complex, intricately constructed collection of songs that requires close attention in order to tease out its full import. However, despite the significance of what they’ve managed here, I feel like Hello Handshake ultimately work against themselves at many points on this album. Its smooth seamlessness leaves little for a listener to grab onto at first. If you’re willing to give this album sustained, focused attention, to get past the first impression it makes as a mellow, conventional prog-rock album, there are a lot of interesting aspects to be found. However, if Hello Handshake ever want to make an album that stands out on first listen, they’re going to have to emphasize the complex energy that bubbles under the surface of their sound, rather than their smooth, polished exterior.
