Second Hand Guns – Bad Press From Silhouettes EP
Make no mistake; Manchester’s cocksure Second Hand Guns set-up had some gumption to call their debut, two-track release a fully-fledged EP. That aside however, its brief running time nevertheless had impact. Quick off the mark, the four-piece are now back to bolster that economically-titled Two Songs EP with the Bad Press From Silhouettes EP.
Comparatively generous – it comprises of five cuts, three of which are new – its apple hasn’t fallen far from the Two Songs tree all the same. As such, and glossing over the richly familiar, crunching post-punk sound of “Send My Love”, as well as the muscular, remastered rock of “Spanish Shores”, Bad Press From Silhouettes is borne of noisy, math-rock guitars, weighty drums that refuse to know their place and a lyrical turn somewhere between the quick-fire poetry of Alex Turner and the disaffected sneer of The Cooper Temple Clause ‘s Ben Gautrey .
Full of duelling guitar angles, clever melody and urgent slices of rock, “One Touch” is deceptive – both light and dark, both carefree and concentrated. On the other hand, the wryly-titled “Modern Life’s Alright” is altogether choppier, plying its trade very much in Artic Monkey country, until, that is, the track’s dominant guitar takes a stranglehold of proceedings by way of a close.
Casting off contemporary commentary on the slower-paced “Chinese Symbols” ( “The Chinese symbols on your wrist don’t mean what you think they mean” ), and again interspersed with bruising sonic batteries, it becomes apparent that Second Hand Guns are a band schooled in the same ideologies as city-mates and recent [sic] First Glances stars Optional Wallace . And to these ears, both outfits are a lot more viable in re-establishing Manchester’s music scene than the majority of acts currently being touted for the same purpose.
Though it would seem Second Hand Guns have received “bad press” from their titular Silhouettes , on this form they are unlikely to generate anything but positive feedback in future.
~Bad Press From Silhouettes is available now at Second Hand Guns live shows, and is released digitally on iTunes and Bandcamp in July 2011.~