Hired Hands are an excellent Dublin band that write breezy, jazzy, folky, syncopated, gorgeous, and, at times, touching indie-pop tunes. Sounding a little like a cross between Van Morrison, LAKE, and the poppier side of Dirty Projectors, they are an organic breath of fresh air in an over-produced, over-processed, over-hyped indie landscape. “The Quay Wall” is the band at their best, with layers of guitar that gleefully bounce off of each other, drums that skip like a six year old girl, and horns that coat the whole song like butter over a cinnamon roll. The vocals are stunning as well, at turns gentle, coy, and insistent. The rest of their debut record, “My Heart Hung,” doesn’t quite reach the heights of “The Quay Wall” but this album is still top-five-albums-of-the-year material for me. If you love thoughtful indie-pop, or still value songs and arrangements over studio trickery, I can’t recommend Hired Hands enough. Jeremy Jensen
Hired Hands – The Quay Wall
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Hired Hands
Year: 2011
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