Dynamite in Black and White
It's hard to imagine a tougher task than capturing Hot Little Hands on disk. Their sound ranges so much: one minute it's swimming with swampy cymbally synth, the next trumpets are blaring and you're at the fair. You could almost argue that if there was a signature HLH moment, it would be the sudden, and wonderfully nonsensical shifts in tone, pace, tempo, everything.
A standout Jekyl and Hyde moment like this is in 'Easy Way Out', when they break out of a nice, smooth, precisely syncopated synth/drum machine beat and sweet harmonised vocals into a deranged echo wall of sound that it's impossible to find all the instruments in, and that Phil Spector would be intimidated by.
I'll come clean. There is nothing objective about this review. I've been listening to the hands for at least a couple of years. Since they started really. And I love them. In that time their sound has evolved and become more complex and interesting in a way that is testament to their imagination, curiosity and the hard working, consummate musicians they are. That's why I think it's such a miracle that Dynamite in Black and White not only does them justice, it truly captures what they are about.
Release: Album
To Cure: An empty dancefloor
Keywords: Rubber Records, Hot Little Hands
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