Waving Hand

Waving Hand are the project of Quebec City multi-instrumentalist Guillaume Chiasson. With the addition of Mathieu Gamache on bass and his brother Maxime on drums, Waving Hand mix off-kilter electronics with good ol' American-influenced pop melodies on the band's debut EP, Places. Opening with the pulse and pause of instrumental "310," Chiasson, allowing the song's rhythm to trip over itself, surgically inserts clipped, dripped vocal samples before exploding into the gooey "The Man Living on the City Landfill Site." "Bal Masqué" eschews bawdy layering for four-on-the-floor knob noodling, allowing the vocal melody to steer the ship before choruses of clichéd shouts and circle jerk sing-alongs knock it off course. "Bonne Nuit Mon Coeur" and "Abandoned Church" daftly utilize found sounds, giving the album fresh doses of personality. Places demonstrates a young band struggling with identity within the already congested world of indie electronics. It's an issue that will hopefully be sorted out by the time their debut LP drops.