Radiation City are the latest artists to emerge from the Tender Loving Empire in Oregon. These arty, dreamy, atmospheric popsters are as misty as the Oregonian landscape and their album The Hands That Take You is a perfect Northwestern indie rock record with an Oregonian slant. Part fun and part torch songs The Hands That Take You is a woozy trip into the bands subconscious that you'll find difficult to return from.
With a minimal amount of fuss and instrumentation Radiation City cast spells with beguiling sounds, breezy choruses, and instrumentation that seems to float on an Ambien fueled pillow. This truly is dream pop because about half of The Hands That Take You sounds like it was recorded in that zone just before you drift off into never, never land. And for all its wooziness and half awareness, the record still maintains this hypnotizing affect. The nearly jazzy vocals of Lizzy Ellison hovers somewhere between Julie Cruise and an angel; she's just got a pretty voice that wafts on by as the band struggle to keep themselves awake. It’s something to be enraptured by, like most of this album.
The Hands That Take You is a sleeper of a hit...literally. This is slackerific, hazy, post shoegazing pop that's impossible not to like. It's a subtle record whose mark is left upon you long after you've stopped listening. It won't be obvious, but this record will remain with you. Radiation City has written a lucid dream set to music and its great stuff. After listening to The Hands That Take You sleeping will never be the same.
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