Slow Hands
I’ll Find Me
Reviewed by: Ziggy Merritt
Something I like to impress in my reviews is the value of splitting up your best material throughout the length of the album so that some of the weaker tracks have a chance to shine through by virtue of their placement. Wisely, Ryan Cavanagh’s debut album as Slow Hands follows this approach with the caveat of making any weaker instrumental tracks into pleasant, escapist melodies. In effect, Cavanagh creates a well-rounded debut that imparts his chops as a former DJ into his metamorphosis as a genre-bending songwriter.
The album in question, I’ll Find Me, has the distinction of being international in scope and sound. From the spicy rhythms of “Cusco” to the southwestern vibes of “Caballo Blanco” there’s a certain reverence to Central and South American music that pervades much of the album’s interior. Layered against this are dance beats which range anywhere from house to the spectral trip-hop of “Phonograph Love.” There’s no rest to the experimental nature of this release, a concept that often enough falls flat without exploring any entertaining sonic territory for the listener. Here that concept finds some new life between themes of travel, romance, and heritage.
The definite peak of this concoction rests on the laurels of the album’s title track. “I’ll Find Me” which ranges from the similarly explored ethnic influences to a synthpop refrain accented by sparse brass instrumentation. The lyrical content explores a romantic tryst of Cavanagh’s that is explored through the analogy of a crow and a scarecrow, something that eventually finds its way back to concrete origins within the serenity of the track’s bridge: “And the reality/ Of all this naivete/ Is that I don’t know you/ And you really don’t know me.”
Exploring this album as an orchestral whole reveals a few interlude tracks, which strike up some of Cavanagh’s influences as a musician, particularly the blues-rock cut of “Sans Guiro” and the Jeff Buckley inspired, “Reid’s Lament” written for a talented pianist friend who tragically passed away not long ago. While my ever-present gripe with interlude tracks still remains, the few included here offer more than just a break in momentum. They reveal a careful versatility, a concept that carries over into the succeeding tracks even as far down the tracklist as “Coney Island Stroll.” Here the brass instrumentation makes a triumphant return alongside a Talking Heads-inspired beat and a reverence for prior odes to the Big Apple. At its conclusion, I’ll Find Me reveals itself as an inspired debut, one crafted as an homage to Cavanagh’s humble and eclectic life.
Rating: Bad-Ass
