The Handcuffs Return With Waiting For The Robot

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 7, 2011 6:20PM

Core duo -- Brad Elvis and Chloe F. Orwell -- have been bouncing around town making music as The Handcuffs for close to a decade now. They traffic in a canny mixture of glam and pop that owes equal debt to the '70s and '80s while striving to be something of the present day; relevance with a back-story.

Through the thirteen tracks of their latest album Waiting For The Robot, Elvis and Orwell -- aided by Emily Togni's bass, Ellis Clark's guitar and Alison Hinderliter's keyboards -- mostly succeed in creating new wave party rock with enough true character to keep things interesting. A jazzy flourish like the nod to David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" during the keyboard solo in "Take A Picture" and the chugga-chugga stadium stomp of "Dirty Glitter" aren't mind-blowing revelations but they fit the material perfectly and add just the right spark to inspire foot tapping.

We'll be honest; at close to fifty minutes Waiting For The Robot runs a little long to take in a single sitting. In fact the album's main fault, if one could call it that, is the persistent feel that you're listening to a singles compilation and not a self-contained LP. The songs' relentless charge can grow daunting when taken all at once. One solution to this problem might have been splitting the disc into two or three EPs. Of course the other, simpler home remedy would be to simply either create your own playlist of tunes from the album to fit your mood or throw the whole thing on shuffle amidst like-minded artists. However you decide to consume 'em, The Handcuffs are definitely worth a taste of your time.

The Hancuffs open for Blondie tonight, September 7, at House Of Blues