LADYFINGER (NE)
Heavy Hands
Saddle Creek
Midwestern four piece not quite firing on all cylinders.
Omaha, Nebraska has been home to a lot of great rock ’n’roll over the last 10 years, forming a community of supportive musicians, however, too much support and well-wishing can be harmful. Sometimes heavy hands reveal clumsy fingers.
Ladyfinger (NE) bill themselves as a classic rock band and this much is true. They combine many elements of mid-’90s rock, drawn from the heavier side of grunge. Lead vocalist Chris Machmuller sounds like he’s channelling Chris Cornell and both "Smuggler" and "Who Believes Enough" roar with buzzing guitars and a throbbing Drives Like Jehu bassline. However, things quickly start to skitter off kilter, as Machmuller’s drawn-out delivery on "Sea Legs" ill-matches its hard-core tempo. As the band progresses into Jawbox-style feedback and distortion on "Cause for Shame," Machmuller’s having Morrisey-like delusions of grandeur. An attempted falsetto delivery with vibrato undermines "Too cool for school" but the band seems to rediscover a working arrangement with "Don’t Lose Your Shadow" and is able to ride out the remaining four tracks without incident.
Heavy Hands would have been much better off as a five-song EP, showcasing Ladyfinger (NE) as part of the re-emerging thrash/punk scene. Unfortunately, with twice that number of songs, the musical message remains confused and bewildering.
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