Continuing where they left off with their previously released song “Headrush,” Aussie rock outfit Hands Like Houses are back with a brand new standalone single.
Titled “Space,” Hands Like Houses new track touches on the timely idea of emotional claustrophobia. The only thing is, the song was written well before any quarantining had even gone into place.
Diving into the subject matter, the band said:
“It’s weird to think that we wrote this song about emotional isolation and this sense of claustrophobia before any of this crazy year had gone down. It’s about this emotional collage of situations where I felt like I was going through the motions, grappling with exhaustion, trying to do the right thing but still coming up short of other people’s expectations. It’s kind of weird that sense of emotional claustrophobia has fast-forwarded to now. I haven’t read these lyrics written down until today and there’s this weird sense of deja vu, like I wrote these words yesterday with full knowledge of everything that’s happened in the last few months.
Looking back to being the studio I think we were still figuring out some of the creative challenges of living in different states, if not continents. I guess some of our interpersonal differences did come to the fore during the process. This was the first time we’d actually write, record and release something completely in Australia, but we were all caught up in our home life ‘normality’ leading up to it so it became a real challenge to come together in the same room and make something.
-Anon. was this fun and enlightened process for us. It just felt like a shock to the system this time around. The ideas we had felt so much more raw than we were used to. Having to refine through those differences in taste and personality in just over a week put us under a lot of pressure and I think this song really captures that moment in time.
Considering that emotional collage of circumstances and thought processes, it was really important to me that the lyrics carried the weight of what I was singing about, without getting caught in the specifics. I wanted to feel tired but not hopeless. I wanted it to feel worn out, but not ready to give up yet. I didn’t want to sound like I’d stopped trying. I just wanted it to feel like coming out of a long silence. ‘Be patient, I can get this right. I just need a little faith, a little trust, and some space to get myself back together.’
To check out Hands Like Houses’ new emotional song and video, be sure to look below.
