Written by: Dave Cantrell

Yeah, it’s true, we often seem to be privileging the at least slightly more esoteric around here, not necessarily detouring entirely into the outré but nevertheless keeping a keen ear out for the slightly askew pop romp for which we, quite admittedly, have a bit of a weakness. But after a while we reach a point when it’s just time for some traditional, vintage-sounding rock’n’roll, the kind that tweaks, massages, and kicks in the ass that 1970s DNA we’ve all got lurking in our bloodstream whether we admit it or not. It’s the type groove/trope/wig-out we can’t ever fully shake ourselves free of which is just bloody fine since why the f*ck should we? Speaking personally, having cut my youthful ‘kick out the jams’ teeth at Winterland beginning in early 1973, not only would I rather not cleanse myself of that influence – despite my well-known post-punk leanings – but welcome it into my skinny hippy arms like the beloved love child it’s always been. And here, pretty much on cue, comes The Handcuffs, bringing us not just a hearty slug of the real stuff in the form of “Love Me While You Can,” the second pre-released cut from upcoming album Burn the Rails (released via Pravda June 3rd) but doing so via a montage of live footage that carries your correspondent – rather dreamily, it must be said – back into the halcyonic blur of yesteryear, blue clouds of smoke mixing in with the glorious din as the old ice-skating palace shook with a bewitching mix of oblivion, euphoria, and electric provocation. And engaging as all that sounds in its nostalgic sense, the essence of that vibe in that time is carried from memory to the present as a thing not a little incandescent and, as it turns out, everlasting. Just when we think that illustrious, never-to-be-repeated past is buried for good (silly us) it roars back onto our radar with fury or finesse or both, which is more or less the case here with this new Handcuffs track.

Kicking off with an almost unassuming, singularly riffed guitar progression from singer/co-founder (with drummer Brad Elvis) Chloe F. Orwell, “Love Me While You Can” very quickly establishes both its and the band’s crackling bona fides, the entire band jumping in with a brash, assured, and genuinely unpretentious uptake of that rare quality known as ‘mojo.’ It’s at that point, with the Handcuffs en toto – Brad, Chloe, bassist Emily Togni, lead guitarist Jeffrey Kmieciak, and keyboardist Alison Hinderliter – hitting their full stride, which is pretty much immediately, that there’s absolutely no doubt as to why the immortal Morgan Fisher of Mott the Hoople not only became a fan (Orwell wrote a rave review of the Mott reunion tour in 2018 which went viral and Fisher got in touch and here they are) but as well lends his keyboard prowess to a couple tracks on Burn the Rails. Channeling the spirit of that time when FM was in the ascendant and AM was desperately trying to keep pace in the coolness stakes, “Love Me While You Can” hits sweet spots that can remind of era-defining one-off hits like “Brother Louie” by Stories or the glory days of Faces with Rod Stewart at the mic (the song could easily be the slightly less raucous descendant to “Stay With Me”). By far what stands out most with this lot, however, is their sincerity. This ain’t no cover band, it ain’t no throwback revivalist band, it’s the Handcuffs being who they just simply cannot help being and, just as simply, killing it in the process. Any band that manages to sound reminiscent and this razor-sharp up-to-date is not only doing something right they’re almost certainly doing everything right. Welcome to the world of the Handcuffs…