Crooked Hands

Hometown: Newcastle
Lineup: Chris Brown, Tom Booth, Liam Smith, Robbie Houston and Nick Blaszczyszyn
For fans of: Frightened Rabbit, City & Colour
Key tracks: ’Under’, ‘The Stream’
See them live: Bernicia Festival, South Shields, 4 August
Connect: Facebook | SoundCloud | Twitter | Bandcamp

Young songwriter Chris Brown was left listless after ditching a university course back in 2011 but rather than mope around, Chris gathered a clutch of musicians to bolster his burgeoning reputation as a heart-breaking solo performer on Newcastle’s folk-centric live scene. And thus the current incarnation of Crooked Hands was born.

Taking cues from Frightened Rabbit and City and Colour, Crooked Hands blend rich vocal harmonies with nimbly plucked acoustics and glittering keys to create densely textured alt-rock. Dallas Green’s influence in particular is spattered across key tracks ‘Under’ and ‘The Stream’ with slow-burning, angst-wracked verses giving way to huge indie-epic choruses, all jarring electric guitar twangs and pummelling percussion. There are lighter, more airy moments too, the fluttering entwined vocals on ‘Under’ recall Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago-era pastoral swoops and swoons.

If you needed any more convincing of their emotive cred, ‘Under’ was even sniffed out by the producers of American teen drama 90210 and featured as the fade-out music on an episode earlier this year. Not bad for an outfit born out of such apathy, huh?

The band have an EP, entitled Penitentiary, slated for release in early 2014 too. Have a listen to its blood-pumping lead track ‘The Stream’ below.