The Guilty Hands

Bored of surf pop? Us too. Ironic really considering it’s nearly summer, but there you go. We’re contradictory buggers. This week we thought we’d bring you London’s The Guilty Hands who peddle an indie electro sound that will make you want to rip off all your clothes and grab that tall, dark stranger on the night bus. Or is that just us?

There’s a bit of the Bravery in here for sure, and a slither of early ‘Plug In Baby’-era Muse, but the group’s use of instrumentation – violins, samples of Marlon Brando (they take their name from a line from A Streetcar Named Desire) and cluttered hand claps and gasps – takes them into a more experimental territory – maybe a little more Bright Eyes or Patrick Wolf.

‘The Wilder Shores of Love’, with its haunted refrain, “It was just a kiss, I thought you’d understand”, is the most lupine, taking electro-folk and channelling through a story about a woman who is so overcome by ecstasy when looking at a painting that she kisses it. ‘The Collector’ has the strut of Prince and all of his sex appeal (although slightly more white and nerdy). If you thought Rihanna’s 'S+M' was a little bit kinky, then check this out: “I walk the city streets hunting for beauty, I’ve made a deal with the Devil and I can have all I see.” And later: “Keep desire on a short leash, or else I’m coming back for you.” Blimey. We’re hot under our collective collars.

Their fans obviously don’t mind too much. In fact, they’ve financed the group’s album, using the website slicethepie.com to buy shares in the recording. It sure shows how dedicated they are. And you should be too, just for the fact that they’re white indie boys doing something a bit different. And there’s not a surf board in sight.