Rotary Ten - 'These Are Our Hands' (Xtra Mile) Released 02/06/2008

Rotary Ten appear to be yet another band coming out of the very influential Kinsella school of thought, posturing complex acoustic structures that could have been tapped right out of Mike’s mathy fortress. For two brothers from Chicago, Illinois (Sufjan anyone?), they’ve sure creeped over these shores and influenced many a favourite band with their supposedly innovative and edgy rock (read also: progressive post-rock for the indie elite).

Today’s graduates are Sheffield’s Rotary Ten, a band not particularly well known round these parts but kicking up a fair fuss in their very own steel city; joining the ranks of Foals, Youthmovies, Johnny Foreigner and This Town Needs Guns’ in Kinsella inspired mathy (read also: funky time signature’d) goodness. Even from the first song, you can tell that this band have a ‘signature sound’, ‘Idols of our own design’ displays this well, showing off those standard mellifluous key changes, dreamlike tonality and twitchy guitar rifts to a T; ‘Time is Not a Line and I am Not a Rock’ and ‘Counting at Me’ are similar in their (idolised) design.

‘Leo and Rosa’ is a beguiled melody – you need fast fingers to be a guitarist in this band – plucked from the fingerboard itself. ‘Don’t Lean on the Wires’ slows things down that little bit and provides a hefty dose of emotional sustenance. I can’t fault this; it’s a work of art. Mike would be proud, fellas.