Rotary Ten – These Are Our Hands

• 24th Jun 2008

With only cool song titles to offer up an insight into their musical worth, Rotary Ten (RT) offer up their ‘These are our Hands’ LP which, from the outset, reveals an underpinning claustrophobic, hurried delivery that’s all too commonly mistaken for spontaneity or fervour that’s previously been utilized by the likes of Mars Volta or The Liars.

That said; the closest I can get to a musical comparison is an Idlewild/Arctic Monkeys/Smiths amalgamation. By track two ‘Time is not a Line and I am not a Rock’, their magic begins to work itself into your psyche, despite the old hat vocal style or the (somewhat) substandard songs.

The chemistry that RT maintains on this album undeniably does more than to serve them well. There’s something that engages the listener and instils an inexplicable craving for more. Maybe there’s something to be said for the heartfelt, impassioned vocal delivery. Maybe it’s something in the tightly knit compositions. Maybe there are subliminal messages amidst the predominantly indistinct lyrics (owing for the odd gem: “quicker, I am a sticker”). Maybe I should shut up with my half-assed guessing!

RT climb down off that abused chart friendly horse of scallywag cooldom to spew out a track that’s simply a breath of fresh air. ‘Don’t Lean on the Wires’ is a gratefully received exercise in simplistic, patiently delivered excellence and so I congratulate RT! Their ultimately fine LP’s sure to stand its ground amidst the myriad of media immersed competition that’s cut from the same over lauded mediocre cloth.