When asked what Northern England contributes to the country, Southerners might simply answer rain and wool. They wouldn’t be totally wrong, but the North Country has also given us The Smiths; it’s given us Joy Division; it’s recently given us Alt-J and now it’s giving us Just Handshakes. Say It, released May 20 on San Diego-based label Bleeding Gold,is the debut full-length from the Leeds, UK band. In the years that it took Just Handshakes to release this album, they shortened their name from Just Handshakes (We’re British) and sharpened up their sound quite a bit.
You might just have an epiphany moment during the title track, “Say It,” that Just Handshakes isn’t totally dissimilar from their even more northerly neighbors Belle and Sebastian with poppy vocals surrounded by strikingly and sometimes indefinably morose tone. The difference, however, is that where Belle and Sebastian might leave you feeling a bit sad, Just Handshakes contributes general positivity, given greatly by Clara Patrick’s instrumental vocals.
This characteristic does have habit of occasionally masking lyrics, though – lyrics that are often too relatable to demand mask. Say It opens with “London Bound,” a track about the post-university soul-searching and the habit of all of your friends to flock to London (replace London with New York and you’ve got yourself a saga that’s being told all of the United States, as well).
Just when you think this album is simply driven by vocal melodies with the backing band there for semantics, a tricky guitar takes the stage in “Kiwi” and keeps in that role throughout the album. As the album slows down in “Signs,” the impact of subtlety is truly realized where the power slyly shifts from the vocals to the guitar. There it stays, gradually joined by all other parts, for the remainder of the album resulting in a final track where all parts are, at last, equal.
It would be an odd phenomenon for the band to have placed the songs of this album in the order that they were written and that’s definitely not what Just Handshakes did in Say It. It does feel, however, that the album matures more with each song. While the poppy beginnings of “London Bound” and “Kiwi” are fun tracks ready for air play, the final string from “Signs” to “Balmoral” emphasize a final union of Just Handshakes initially unrealized in the album. Whether seeking a summer-ready single or a song for thought, Say It delivers.
Say It is available for download on bandcamp and at Bleeding Gold Records.
