There’s a jungle groove that greets you initially on ‘Join Hands’, the new single from Stanley.
The skeletal percussion is joined by playful backing vocals; sleazy, sexy vocals and an ever present piano playing away – it’s all the ingredients of a Tim Burton animation, and has the same eerie atmosphere as one.
Booming bass, overdriven guitar and the sound of church bells add to the tension as the vocals duck out to leave space for a small instrumental break that works well.
Altogether it’s a good tune, reminiscent of a Danny Elfman number – it’s got layers and layers of instrumentation to pull apart, strong and alluring performances by the musicians themselves and that key ingredient – great songwriting.
As a listener, it’s one of those songs that you keep trying to anticipate it’s next move, but you never can.
Words: Matthew Slater
