Indie Music Album Reviews

disposable hands - the waiting room

5/13/2013

The Disposable Hands

The Waiting Room
self-released; 2013

4.2 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

New York ambient rockers Disposable Hands came out last April with their debut EP entitled The Waiting Room, driven by the group's first single, "Cactus No. 9" (reference to The Beatles’ “Revolution No. 9” or purely coincidental?). Disposable Hands is the moniker behind the work of two expatriate musicians who converged into the same music scene: French writer and singer Charles Pinel and Sam Radseresht, born and raised in Dubai, with a fondness for folk and indie pop melodies. The result of this collaboration is a creative and original blend of indie-folk, embellished with elements of post-rock, drone-music and alternative rock. Not since Grizzly Bear have I heard such great use of vocal harmonies and vocal tones to create songs that each have their own character but somehow feel connected. This point cannot be overstated enough about this band that while the music is incredible and contains everything from banjo to space echo type guitars; the vocals here are something that a lesser band would salivate over. The vocal interplay and melodies are really, really good.

The opening track "All I Need To Know" is a haunting and experimental folk ballad, with vocals drowning into a sea of reverb effect and minimal percussion work, creating beautiful textures. The second track manages to deliver a change of mood early on in the EP, kind of bringing me back to the 60s sound, reminds me about The Kinks in their folksy era, with a lot of vocal harmonies and lead vocals that push the song ahead with a lot of charisma.

Chosen single "Cactus No. 9" begins with a catchy vocal interplay, and builds on a melancholic, yet driven indie-folk tune. "Documented Hours" is another track with a retro flavor, owing much to The Beatles in their most experimental period (think White Album!). At this point it is pretty clear that this band likes to keep a foot into new, minimal indie pop aesthetics and the other into a 60s psychedelic rock and folk approach, a mix that feels really fresh and help keeping the music original. The closing number “Babette” continues on in this trend, closing the EP with a haunting alternative rock ballad. This is a really interesting and promising work that portrays a band with a lot of potential that could bring great things on a full-length album. In the meantime enjoy this piece of work because it is fantastic.