Dublin septet Hired Hands may be a brand new blip on our rock radar, but this is one fledgling band who’ve been clearly been doing their music theory homework. There’s a hell of a lot of musicianship to take-in on My Heart Hung – a wily miscellany of quirky folk songwriting, mournful string arrangements and soulful brass breakdowns, layered up with the twin vocal stylings of Dearbhla Minogue and Cillian Murphy.
Hired Hands’ chiming nursery pop is at its most thrilling when turned completely on its head, on tracks like ‘Bones’, which sees Murphy sweetly croon: “Take now my old bones/Bury them in the ground/Wrapped in the carcass of my dead buffalo/Where they’ll never be found.” This self-assured lyrical playfulness is flashed regularly throughout the record, on ‘Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee’ (“I swear I knew Geronimo/I swear I knew the man”) and countless other exhilarating refrains.
There’s a hint of Sufjan’s …Illinoise to clanging ditty ‘Oh Child’, while ‘Opposable Thumbs’ is brimming with delightful peculiarities. Elsewhere, the marching band percussion and bellowsome refrain make ‘Calcutta’ one of the album’s standouts.
The twee first single ‘The Quay Wall’ finds the honey-voiced Minogue at her most charming and Murphy’s intonations sound proudly Irish throughout, adding to the organic feel of the record. But that, I’m afraid is just the good news.
Undoubtedly, it makes sense for an album like this one to remain unpolished, but the humble production lets My Heart Hung down. Happily shooping harmonies are practically lost in the din, and even the lead vocal gets dragged under on a couple of occassions. It’s really a shame, as the chemistry is there in scads, but there just aren’t enough audible dips and peaks to hold your interest for a full 43 minutes.