The self-titled EP of Melbourne based Animal Hands is pleasing to the ear. The garagey, grunge sounds in juxtaposition to frontwoman Danielle Whalebone’s crooning vocals is a great combination.

‘Defiance’, the inaugural track has a great introduction, just a simple guitar riff that leads into a really neat track. It’s a clever start to the EP, you can really feel what the band are trying to achieve.

You can hear their self-expressed influences of stoner rock and sludge in ‘Paper Crown’, with the lyrics “there is nothing left to do but get myself high.”

The 90s female fronted post-grunge associations being suggested however, are up up for debate. Especially when in a recent interview discussing musical influences Whalebone states, “thank you to the men past and present who have inspired us to continue to make music.”

As a female musician playing grunge music you would hazard a guess that an appreciation for bands like Hole and Echobelly, who carved the way for women in grunge history, would be more apparent.

Regardless of the band’s influences, proclaimed or otherwise, the album has some standouts with a cover of UK artist Matt Johnson’s ‘This Is The Day’ making an appearance, and ‘Bed Of Dolls’ closing the debut; a great finale to the self-titled debut.

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