Actress Hands are yet another band that find themselves sneaking out of the (weirdly incestuous) Brighton music scene that bought us the likes of Electric Soft Parade, Brakes, Tenderfoot, and British Sea Power. In fact it just so happens that Alex White from ESP is a member of Actress Hands as well. As with those other Brighton based collaborations Brakes and Tenderfoot, Actress Hands seem to have engaged White in a band that would appear to be a far better proposition than his usual home in ESP.
Snack Horse opens with a basic drum pattern and one fingered keyboard tune that sounds as if it has been lifted from a set by a remedial level lounge act playing out their days in a dingy wine bar in Calais. Still, the basic charm of the intro soon fills out into the kind of lush pop that Teenage Fanclub used to deal in. The vocal harmonies that intertwine beautifully pick you up and lay you down in a sun kissed field - the sound of a lazy drunken summer afternoon distilled, somehow made all the more potent by a woozy trumpet.
B-side Being Sure is a little rougher around the edges, hinting at the same Neil Young influences that inspired J Mascis. The dreamy summer feel remains in tact though, as a hazy tune makes itself felt. Actress Hands create songs that feel like the warmth of the sun on the back of your neck, or the chill of dew slowly making you socks wet as it seeps through the broken soles of your Doc Martens.
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