If you've caught The Idle Hands live, you know they're a band that will stand and deliver with charm, fashion and sexuality. Ciaran fronts the stage while guitars swirl, Criostoir's bass lines take hold and the room is transformed into a booze-soaked indie disco. The band was formed when the brothers relocated from the British Isles to Minneapolis and joined Eileen Omizo-Whittenberg on keys, adding Al Wires on guitar and Nicco Franz Huber on drums. Their 2009 outing, The Hearts We Broke On The Way To The Show, was a whirlwind of an album that exposed the band to new fans on both sides of the pond. With Ciaran's wry sense of humor and disdainful vocals backed by densely layered guitars and keyboard-laden hooks, the band drew favorable comparisons to the likes of the Psychedelic Furs and Pulp.

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Following up, The Idle Hands returned in spring 2011 with a new EP, Life Is Beautiful. The band unites the sounds of Brit-pop, New Romantic keyboards, and David Bowie-esque glam and shoots them through with David Lynch debauchery and velvet sleaze. "Socialite Death Squad" kicks off with a distorted bass line that drives the song straight to the dance floor with a tongue-in-cheek chorus. "Dead Letter" seethes with a creepily dark vocal performance from Ciaran with menacing lines like "stalking feels like devotion, but you can't say why" set atop a propulsive, squalling wall of sound, while "Uptown Burning" conjures visions of reckless scenester youth at the edge of America. "Just Stop" and "Fine" round out just over twenty minutes of the band's best work yet.