Search - Eyestrings :: Burdened Hands

"Burdened Hands" is the self-produced debut from Eyestrings, a 10-track, 66-minute album of original rock music with a rich spectrum of influences. [Warning: unauthorized name-dropping ahead...] You may hear hints of Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, Genesis, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Tom Waits, and some of your other favorites. The variety from one track to the next offers a welcome diversion for music lovers who long for an album that doesn?t get bogged down in one thing. And somehow, this variety never betrays the cohesiveness of the album. But of course you should hear it and judge for yourself... A quick synopsis: 1. Recovery -- Sad, pretty, scary, contemplative, aggressive, autonomous. Even at ten minutes that?s a lot for one song, yet an appropriately-multifaceted introduction to the album. 2. Itchy Tickler -- A playful lament, if that is possible. A straight rock groove turns into a lunging chorus, with a lush guitar solo in the bridge. 3. Dead Supermen -- Wait a minute: progressive folk?! A tongue-in-cheek biography of fallen heroes. 4. Anachronism -- "I set a trap for me..." A story of evil-twin paranoia over a creepy electronic rock progression. 5. Funnel -- Complex piano patterns lead into a meter-shifting groove in this song about an uplifting descent. 6. Just A Body -- A fun song about the bleakness of human life, with perhaps the catchiest refrain on the album. 7. Slackjaw -- The sarcastic autobiography of a chauvinist in over-the-top swing style, complete with a chorus of trombones. Also, the end-jam has a satisfying apex. 8. Nothing -- Giving up, in a very pretty and sad song pushed along by rhodes piano and distant guitars. 9. Time Will Tell -- Giving up, in a very scary song driven by screaming guitar with a starkly-memorable chorus. 10. Empty Box -- The final track goes through peaks and valleys, with many themes intertwined. From somber piano & voice solo through waves of guitar melodies and moments of pure rocking-out, this epic follows to a most satisfying conclusion, and proves an appropriate closer for the album. "Burdened Hands" is a truly diverse album. The attentive production and carefully-crafted (sometimes downright sneaky) writing promise you?ll hear something new with each listening.