Hands First come out of Brooklyn bringing together the propulsive churn of post punk, twisting guitar lines, and an industrial-grade sense of urgency that feels relentless. Based on Camden Phalen’s rough melodies and restless contemplation, the project began as a constellation of acquaintances and has since hardened into a focused unit. Hands First specialize in turning whatever space they occupy into a pressure cooker.
Mask is the formidable new single from the band; a track that functions equally as self-reminder and listener warning. What makes it stand out is the tension, the push and pull between exposure and self-preservation, as Hands First wrestle with what it costs to mean something in a scene that can reward detachment over risk, and that is where the track becomes a dare.
The band explains: "I started writing Mask about two years ago when it felt to me like authenticity and vulnerability in music and art was at an all time low. I don’t want to say for sure if that was actually the case, but there was sort of this pervasive “nothing matters” vibe going around in post-pandemic NYC that felt particularly present in a lot of the more hyped up local music scenes. Mask isn’t necessarily a critique of any of this, and writing music from a more distant, detatched point of view is an effective techique ane one that I’ve used plenty of times. But I guess I wanted to write a song that reckons with the cost of authenticity and vulernability in artwork. Lyrically, Mask answers the question “Why would you keep your distance?”."
Mask feels like Hands First combining their rawer, more traditional punk instincts together with the sharper edges of industrial and electronic sounds that are clearly waiting in the wings. The song works as an immediate punch, something familiar enough to grab onto, still, with an intentional sense of unrest beneath it. By pulling from indie rock’s melodic instincts and hardcore’s physical edginess, Hands First are flipping a familiar formula and stress-testing what happens when indie becomes confrontational.
ZR