I find that band names are mainly catchy-witty or repellent-cheesy. This band’s name presents a more involving atmosphere, a mental diving-for-shiny-stuff-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean-on-a-summer-afternoon, and that ain’t bad. Or maybe I should be painting the hidden corner of my hallway with my mitts instead of daydreaming about a lot of other hands doing stuff.
Hundred Hands has a sound that is off the rack of corporate genre-classification. It took a couple of listens, mainly because I needed to listen instead of having it play in the background, to capture their mood, their delicate shifts of tempo tint and dreamy beat meandering.
So I’ll lay it out this way, all of the 11 songs are emo beautiful-ish. Acoustic guitar-driven, sweeping-over-the-sky, backed by bass and drums and comfy but lonely lyrics, like the way your favorite sweater feels when you find a new one at the thrift store. All of the songs have that action in common.
Now, to jump out of this compact disc objective grouping for a tick, there a few very nice instrumental tracks, and also on a couple of tracks there’s some added beats that serve the ears a little something different. It sounds like chocolate and port reduction sauce drizzled a little over your already yummy cheese quesadilla.
I instantly identify with the very first song called, “Waiting in Denver, 4:05 am”…… because I did that once…. And although I don’t directly identify with this address, the last song, called “Gayhouse.com”, has a great tie-in to my world nonetheless. Of course I tried to find it but ‘ol Mozi just took me to a domain vacancy page, so it turns out that in our before the real estate market bubble pop world, “Gayhouse” is for sale! Brilliant, impressive, and savvy but intentional, fuck ya, why not?
This band is a trio, two thirds of which are in the band Appleseed Cast. Aaron Pillar on guitar, Christopher Crisci on bass, and the band’s producer Ed Rose on percussion and drums. The fellows not playing drums sing too. This is a kind of side project with a different sound band. These guys are from a more hardcore background and Appleseed Cast is more of an avant-progressive band, to congregate descriptive adjectives. You know what I mean, don’t you?
This band is touring all summer long, Her Accent Was Excellent is their first full-length record, and it is worth listening to and it is worth thinking about a lot of hands doing things that you are not, but could be. I am beginning to realize that I am drawn more to bands I’ve never heard before when their CD covers are cool looking and I realize nine out ten times it’s a good way to go as any other.
