"you can take it or leave it // you can hide it away // you can break with you believe in completely // and you can have nothing to say // sitting in the passenger seat // of your mother's Volkswagen sedan // heading out to Justin's Funeral // and fiddling with the radio stations..."
The glowing warm melancholia of "Justin's Funeral" by Brooklyn's Hand Gestures starts like a gentle stomach punch but moves up into your chest cavity, filling your heart with the sadness of loss but the joy of loving someone and experiencing them fully. What adds to the wistful feelings from the bandleader Brian Russ's evocative storytelling is the music aesthetics itself, the chill groove, the orchestrations of indie rockness, the keys that feel like an old Fender Rhodes, the fanciful guitar lines and, maybe especially for me, that sort of synth stabs that evoke a vintage kind of flute sound with distortions, I fucking love that sound and how it makes me feel. The chill vibe grows emotionally and the eventual erupting musical punches are felt. This is a perfect song from top to bottom, from the lyrical storytelling and the musical storytelling.
I haven't spoken about the vocal aesthetic here. Russ's vocal countenance feels utterly conversational, the story rolls off his mouth like speaking to us listeners at a bar or backyard gathering or, at a funeral of course. The song does feel at times like a loving eulogy of sorts and it is easy absorb this story and absolutely relate to it. "Justin's Funeral" is the second glimpse of Hand Gestures self titled debut album.
Brian Russ describes “Justin’s Funeral” as one of the most emotional songs on the album:
I haven't spoken about the vocal aesthetic here. Russ's vocal countenance feels utterly conversational, the story rolls off his mouth like speaking to us listeners at a bar or backyard gathering or, at a funeral of course. The song does feel at times like a loving eulogy of sorts and it is easy absorb this story and absolutely relate to it. "Justin's Funeral" is the second glimpse of Hand Gestures self titled debut album.
Brian Russ describes “Justin’s Funeral” as one of the most emotional songs on the album:
“‘Justin’s Funeral’ is so sad of a song to me, that I had to include the part where my friend Jamie 'sold me the guitar in her attic for just five bucks.’ Because it was around this time in my life, 16 years old, that I chose wanting to make music as a pathway forward. It was a monumental moment for me, to get that guitar and hold it in my hands, but of course I didn’t know it at the time... I found myself wanting to reflect a little bit on my high school days... remembering some classmates of mine who died in their teens. One of the memories that came back to me was, my friend Phil got to be a pallbearer for Justin’s funeral, and I remember asking him if the casket felt heavy, and he said ‘10 guys on one casket and the thing feels pretty light.’ That statement felt very profound to me. Still kind of gives me chills to this day.”
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[In the spring of 2022, Brian Russ, longtime Brooklyn musician (Backwords, Spirit Plate, The Love Supreme) and founder of indie label Campers’ Rule Records, was itching to start something new. He felt he had to.
“When you’ve been at it for over 20 years, it’s part of who you are,” he said. “I can’t stop making music. Even running around in my life, coaching baseball, going to work, hanging out with my family. Songs are always bubbling to the surface. Thank god for the voice memos app.”
Composed of all new songs written mostly while on a cross-country summer road trip with his family, all on a little kid-sized guitar “because it fit into the trunk,” Hand Gestures began materializing.
“I wanted to make something that spoke to life in your early 40s. That looked back, but also looked forward. Songs that could unlock universal feelings within - longing, love, loss - feelings we’ve all been through, while vividly reflecting on memories I haven’t thought about for years. Life as a teenager. Trying to figure things out. Coming to identify as an artist.”
Recorded in Brooklyn bathrooms, bedrooms, and in a superfund sludge warehouse, BQE-adjacent rehearsal room near off-duty sanitation trucks and once a random and shocking flame engulfed car, Hand Gestures was a two year process in the making. Produced, arranged, recorded, mixed and mastered by Brian after his kids were in bed, little by little, an album began to emerge, and in the process, as if by magic, a five piece live band also materialized.
Sal Garro, drummer from the 2010s Brooklyn band pow wow!, entered the picture after running into Brian fairly regularly during their morning bike commutes across the Brooklyn Bridge. Then Sal invited Bryan Bruchman from the former Brooklyn-based band Mount Sharp to play lead guitar parts.
“Everyone was just itching to play music again,” Brian said. “We all missed it. Once we were in the rehearsal space together, it just clicked.”
Joined by their friend Courtney Smotkin on keys and bassist Ryan Belski, just like that, ✌️ H A N D G E S T U R E S ✌️ was born — a brand new band for 2025 with a debut record in toe.
Brian, both a tech teacher and a tech skeptic, sums it up like this: “In a world riddled with emojis, only certain ones are clear and decipherable. The ones we've been doing our whole lives. The ones that just come out naturally. The ones we rely on to speak without speaking.”
Hand Gestures debut self-titled album is due out October 31st, 2025 on Campers' Rule Records who is releasing a limited-edition 100 copies on 12" vinyl.]
Love this song and look forward to dipping into the entire album-
-Robb Donker Curtius
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[In the spring of 2022, Brian Russ, longtime Brooklyn musician (Backwords, Spirit Plate, The Love Supreme) and founder of indie label Campers’ Rule Records, was itching to start something new. He felt he had to.
“When you’ve been at it for over 20 years, it’s part of who you are,” he said. “I can’t stop making music. Even running around in my life, coaching baseball, going to work, hanging out with my family. Songs are always bubbling to the surface. Thank god for the voice memos app.”
Composed of all new songs written mostly while on a cross-country summer road trip with his family, all on a little kid-sized guitar “because it fit into the trunk,” Hand Gestures began materializing.
“I wanted to make something that spoke to life in your early 40s. That looked back, but also looked forward. Songs that could unlock universal feelings within - longing, love, loss - feelings we’ve all been through, while vividly reflecting on memories I haven’t thought about for years. Life as a teenager. Trying to figure things out. Coming to identify as an artist.”
Recorded in Brooklyn bathrooms, bedrooms, and in a superfund sludge warehouse, BQE-adjacent rehearsal room near off-duty sanitation trucks and once a random and shocking flame engulfed car, Hand Gestures was a two year process in the making. Produced, arranged, recorded, mixed and mastered by Brian after his kids were in bed, little by little, an album began to emerge, and in the process, as if by magic, a five piece live band also materialized.
Sal Garro, drummer from the 2010s Brooklyn band pow wow!, entered the picture after running into Brian fairly regularly during their morning bike commutes across the Brooklyn Bridge. Then Sal invited Bryan Bruchman from the former Brooklyn-based band Mount Sharp to play lead guitar parts.
“Everyone was just itching to play music again,” Brian said. “We all missed it. Once we were in the rehearsal space together, it just clicked.”
Joined by their friend Courtney Smotkin on keys and bassist Ryan Belski, just like that, ✌️ H A N D G E S T U R E S ✌️ was born — a brand new band for 2025 with a debut record in toe.
Brian, both a tech teacher and a tech skeptic, sums it up like this: “In a world riddled with emojis, only certain ones are clear and decipherable. The ones we've been doing our whole lives. The ones that just come out naturally. The ones we rely on to speak without speaking.”
Hand Gestures debut self-titled album is due out October 31st, 2025 on Campers' Rule Records who is releasing a limited-edition 100 copies on 12" vinyl.]
Love this song and look forward to dipping into the entire album-
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://handgesturesband.bandcamp.com/album/hand-gestures
https://www.instagram.com/handgesturesband/#
In the spring of 2022, Brian Russ, longtime Brooklyn musician (Backwords, Spirit Plate, The Love Supreme) and founder of indie label Campers’ Rule Records, was itching to start something new. He felt he had to.
“When you’ve been at it for over 20 years, it’s part of who you are,” he said. “I can’t stop making music. Even running around in my life, coaching baseball, going to work, hanging out with my family. Songs are always bubbling to the surface. Thank god for the voice memos app.”
Hand Gestures debut self-titled album is due out October 31st, 2025 on Campers' Rule Records who is releasing a limited-edition 100 copies on 12" vinyl.
Hand Gestures, indie rock, bedroom, Lo-fi, alt rock, storytelling, singer-songwriter Brian Russ, formerly of Backwords / Spirit Plate / The Love Supreme, indie label Campers’ Rule Records, "Justin's Funeral",
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