What We're Listening To - Cut Off Your Hands

One of the ultimate downsides to not having a computer was that I lost two weeks of pittering around eMusic to find something to download. But I came back with a vengance, and blew through 26 credits in one day.

One of the albums I picked up was the Cut Off Your Hands late 2008 debut, You and I. I'm a sucker for power pop, fast synthy guitars, and lead vocalists that seem to be trying to out-Cure The Cure. These cheeky little New Zealanders do all of that.

It starts off with jaunty "Happy As Can Be" and picks up steam from there. It slows down and tenderizes with the teen love song "Oh Girl." The songs are all rather youthful when you think about it ("Let's Get Out of Here", "Heartbreak"). It's not very adventerous sonically (you can only play the same three chords so many ways), but it's still a good listen.

And you thought jermaine and Brett were the only good things musically to come out of New Zealand.