Shaking Hand have arrived. The Manchester three-piece released their self-titled debut album on Melodic to immediate critical acclaim, with NPR naming it Album of the Week, Stereogum praising its “spindly riffs and rugged post-hardcore rhythms,” MOJO awarding four stars, and Hard of Hearing calling it “the first great album of 2026.” That kind of consensus doesn’t happen by accident. Listen here.
The record was produced by David Pye (Wild Beasts, Teenage Fanclub) at Nave Studios in Leeds, a converted church with a live room big enough to capture the band’s full sonic weight. Tracked largely live, with Soviet-era microphones, unconventional placements, and phone-recorded demos woven into the mix, the album sounds like a band committed to capturing something real rather than something polished. It pulls from Slint, Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Women while carrying the melodic warmth of Big Thief and Yo La Tengo into its own Northwest-emo territory.
“The best ideas are when it feels like it’s just about to fall apart and we’re only just holding on,” says Freddie. That tension is the record’s engine, quiets that stretch, louds that overwhelm, rhythms that destabilize and hypnotize in equal measure. Shaking Hand’s debut is out now on Melodic, and with two UK dates still ahead, there’s still time to catch this live.
Shaking Hand UK Tour Dates:
April 25 — Nottingham @ The Carousel
September 6 — Manchester @ Manchester Psych Fest