See Thru Hands are an up-and-coming Manchester, UK-based post-punk act, comprised of founding member Duncan Jones (vocals, guitar), Tommy (guitar), Budgie (drums), Danny, a.k.a Tommy Walker 3 (bass), Becki (vocals) and Gaz (synth, samples, effects) — and their debut single “Hot City” is a dance floor friendly take on post-punk that’s one part Entertainment! and Solid Gold-era Gang of Four, Speaking in Tongues and Remain in Light-era Talking Heads and a smidge of Prince, as the song is driven by a funky and sinuous, disco-tinged bass line, neon colored synth squiggles, a propulsive and infectious hook.
Initially written as a tongue-in-cheek satire, thematically and lyrically, “Hot City” is an manages to be a reflection of our broken and fucked up society: government is at best ineffective and frequently corrupt and hypocritical, public services are being neutered and dismantled, there’s more plastic than fish in the water, there’s increasing inequality and injustice and the world is on fire. The post-apocalypse seems to be here right now — and maybe the only thing left is to dance, dance, dance, dance while everything and everyone around you has gone mad. “‘Hot City’ was meant to be tongue-in-check but it’s turning more into a prophecy than satire at this point,” the band says in press notes. “These are crazy times. We never intended to write anything political, but at a certain point you think ‘fuck it.'”
Directed by Manchester-based producer, DJ, NTS radio host and Ruf Kutz label head Ruf Dug, the video envisions the band’s Duncan Jones as the last person left on a 24 hour news broadcast on the sorry and depressing state of the world — and in some way, the overall vibe is part propagandist news program from North Korea, Russia or someplace like that, part paranoid missive, part public access TV program.
