I have been a fan of Ice Cream Hands for ages. I consider them one of the first great power pop bands to come out of Australia. With some artists you need a few spins of a CD to let it sink in. Not with these guys. The sound is an immediate satisfaction of harmony and melody. After the last album I heard “Broken UFO” in 2002, things were quiet. This new album “The Good China” finds Marcus Goodwin, Charles Jenkins, Douglas Lee Robertson and Derek Smiley up to their old tricks. Opening with “Come Along” it’s a rich full pop song that is full of the classic Ice Cream Hands sound. Best described as Teenage Fanclub meets Crowded House. The album continues with a droning riff on “In the Back seat of a stolen Car.” It then switches gears for the very Beatlesque ballad “Holding On.” Continuing on, almost every song is a keeper and the band’s maturity that was evident on “Broken UFO” is here as well, shown especially on the the very Finn-like “Anyway.” Toward the end of the album, the tone gets a bit more soulful and ends with the stunning Brian Wilson inspired “My Mother was a Dancer.” It’s hard to argue with anything here, visit the links below to purchase this. Emusic has the older stuff and if you pick up any of the older records you won’t be sorry either. They are also interviewed on PBS in Melbourne – see the MySpace site.
My Space | Amazon | Play 4 Me | JB Hi Fi | E-music link to older albums