Gaffa Tape Sandy - Hold My Hand, God Damn It (2024)

 

Indie Pop / Garage Rock / Post-Punk

RIYL: Mannequin Pussy, The New Pornographers, Mike Krol

★★★½

Gaffa Tape Sandy's 2019 EP Family Mammal was one of my favorites of that year and even made its way onto my list of picks for the entire decade, so you could imagine what my anticipation would’ve been like if they had actually announced their debut full-length, Hold My Hand, God Dammit, in advance of surprise dropping it a few weeks back. There had been a sprinkling of bandcamp singles for the few months prior, the kind I can never be sure if I should listen to as standalone releases or wait to hear them in the context of a larger piece that may or may not actually exist, and before that the band remained pretty much silent throughout the pandemic and the years that followed. So it was with both relief at their return and apprehension at how their bristling garage rock formula may have aged that I took my first listen after immediately purchasing through the link in my inbox.

Sound-wise, Hold My Hand picks up pretty much exactly where Family Mammal left off, and none of the band's explosive energy or sheer volume has diminished in the five years since we last heard from them. Maybe my own energy levels haven't kept up as I've aged, though, because the songs that make up the record didn't hook me quite as hard as "Headlights" and "So Dry" did back in 2019. Leaning back into the more loud-mouthed and abrasive noise rock of their 2017 debut Spring Killing, there's certainly a decrease in tolerance threshold compared to the more harmonious vocal acrobatics and sugary power-pop that initially drew me into Family Mammal, but perhaps it's just the songwriting that isn't quite up to par this time. Some standouts such as "Evil", "Get Off" and closer "Queasy" have been endearing themselves over repeated listens, so there may still be some hope for the rest of the set, but otherwise I can't help but feel mildly disappointed when comparing Hold My Hand to its predecessor, even given my excitement over the band suddenly reappearing in my life. So maybe instead of focusing on what's different I should just  enjoy the record for what it is - a slight but solid collection of punk-infused indie rock that begs to be played at max volume. It's good to have Gaffa Tape Sandy back in action regardless.