Just Handshakes - Say It

There’s one instant observation to be made of ‘Say It’ - and Just Handshakes as a whole - lead vocalist Clara Patrick’s diabetes-inducing voice. The lyrics are much darker than her voice, and it gives the whole album a fragile undertone.

Just Handshakes do soft (‘Bright Lights’, ‘Signs’), they do loud (‘Stick Around’, ‘Shadows’) and they do bite-size nuggets of pop for you to digest until your stomach swells (‘London Bound’, ‘Dead And Alive’). This really is indie pop at its finest.

But it’s the occasional dips into other sounds that really make the record so rewarding. The space age synths of ‘Dead And Alive’, the harrowing reverb nature of ‘Balmoral’, and the surf-pop hints in ‘Running Wild’ are all perfect examples of a band who aren’t content with a single direction. Sometimes the songs can come across as a bit lazy, but that’s digging deep to find much wrong.

All in all, ‘Say It’ is possibly one of the freshest and most fascinating indie pop records you’ll hear for a while.