The Hundred in the Hands will release their debut full-length September 21 on Warp Records.Here is what their PR peeps sent over: The Hundred in the Hands LP is an album of deceptively complex pop songs which hark back to the dance music of NYC's storied underground. Where their recent This Desert EP feels like a summertime pop dream, THITH's forthcoming album conjures the spirit of downtown's mutant disco scene as made legendary by clubs like the Paradise Garage.
It's a product of DIY home-recording plus a series of studio sessions in London and New York with contributions by producer friends including Jacques Renault, Richard X, Eric Broucek and Chris Zane.
With a brassy carnality, the record veers from disco dazed, avant-pop ("Young Aren't Young") to teenage angst, boredom and pop heartache ("Pigeons") as Jason Friedman's piercing guitar lines cross paths with Eleanore Everdell's soaring harmonies and Siouxsie-esque yelps. A late-night dance party ("Commotion") and post-R&B dub ("This Day Is Made," "Lovesick (Once Again)") spin into mash-ups of skuzzy rock riffs and obliterated beats ("Gold Blood"), until they are relieved in an austere anti-ballad to failed rebellion ("The Beach"). Elsewhere, glistening, conversational minimal wave ("Killing It") bleeds into dreamy synth-pop ("Dead Ending"), crumbles into restrained punk ("Last City") and bursts in the song that started it allthe incisive disco-punk dance-off, "Dressed in Dresden."
The Hundred in the Hands is Eleanore Everdell and Jason Friedman. The two live in Brooklyn and discovered their shared sensibility for early hip hop, French house and disco, ska and dub, post-punk, British invasion-mod and girl pop from the 60's through the 80's and decided to form a band. Their first songthe post-punk rave-up "Dressed in Dresden"was written and recorded in a couple of days, released online, picked up and released as a 45 by a record shop in the U.K. where they were soon playing shows and coming to the attention of Warp Records. Meanwhile, the two retreated to the bunker to write and record. During that time, Friedman and Everdell focused on deciding exactly who they wanted to be. What they discovered and emerged with were 11 startling new tracks and a precise and deliberate sound.
