EP REVIEW: LÓTUS BY HANDS LIKE HOUSES
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 22 May 2026
Canberra heavy rock band Hands Like Houses are about to release their latest Extended Player (EP) ‘Lótus’ with six songs showcasing the band’s live sound. I have been lucky enough to see Hands Like Houses (Josh Raven, Matt Cooper, Alexander Pearson, Joel Tyrrell, and Matt Parkitny) three times over the last eighteen months at their regional tour with The Butterfly Effect, The Used’s anniversary tour, and the Big Pineapple Festival. I have heard these songs in development as they refined them in the live environment and watched fans reactions. These six songs have been the highlights of their live sets.
The EP has a bassline riff that sounds like low thunder, and it opens the title track ‘Lotus’ as the melodic vocals of Josh Raven pair with the airy atmospheric “drifts out of time” before the big drum kick and guitar riffs start and lift the song. The song is a beautiful and concise introduction. The following track is ‘Flowers’, and it is a straightforward rocker with a huge chorus. The song’s lyricism is about the quiet exhaustion of always being the one who grows up and who shows up in life. The song’s emotional focus is on the ‘flowers’ that are craved and “waited for my whole life”, the recognition, not fame or praise, but simple acknowledgment that the effort made in life mattered.
The big scuzzy electric guitar riffs blast away on ‘Love & Affection’. It’s a driven rock song with a dramatic overwrought vocal that moves in tone through the verses. The melodic chorus is fantastic as it soars. It is an EP highlight. The dark and moody ‘Dead’ about modern despair concerns the deadening of emotion by “medicating…doubt” and “talking to myself” about “my wounds” as the “world turns to dust”. The electronic flourishes underpin the rhythmic bassline, big guitar, and drum melody. It’s another EP highlight.
The upbeat heavy rock track is driven by the drums on ‘Warning Signs’. The guitars deliver a high-energy kick to the song that captures the feeling of appearing fine externally while struggling internally as “the light is fading out” as there is a wish for “peace and quiet”. The vocal delivery is both anxious and emotional, perfect for the song, and delivers that sense of sonic dread and that idea of “being cut open” and “laying everything on the line”.
The EP closes with Hands Like Houses’ cover of ‘Wicked Game’ by Chris Isaak. The band have given the song a darker, haunting edge with that lovely guitar work with the piano melody understated in the mix. The vocals from Josh Raven, with the echo, are tender but menacing and it’s such a great reimagining of the song. This song when performed live is so good and generates the kind of circle pits that are unique. The brilliant guitar solo sets the song on fire.
Every song on this EP is full of soaring highs and beautiful melodies but with that heavy rock soundscape, at times delicate, then explosive and spirited, and with each listen you’re hooked. ‘Lótus’ is a great EP, and fans and new listeners to Hands Like Houses will find an EP that’s all killer, no filler.
