The Hundred In The Hands

Based on the Hundred in the Hands’ debut EP for Warp, This Desert, the band could have gone in two different directions for its first full-length. The duo could have gone deeper into the experimental leanings shown on some songs, or the sleek disco-pop displayed on others. For their self-titled debut, they chose the latter; Jason Friedman and Eleanore Everdell worked with pop mega-producer Richard X, among others, which explains the album’s sleeker, slicker feel, while louder guitars, the occasional live drums, and more aggressive synths add a sharper edge. This serves the Hundred in the Hands’ singles well, adding muscle to the Bloc Party-like riff of “Dressed in Dresden” and extra bite to “Young Aren’t Young”’s dreamy disco-pop. Everdell’s voice is still pristinely beautiful — especially on “Lovesick (Once Again)”’s massed harmonies and “This Day Is Made”’s ghostly choruses. The Hundred in the Hands still sound most convincing on songs about emptiness: “Pigeons” and “Dead Endings” let Everdell be an ice princess crooning about vacant spaces, late nights, and early mornings over frosty synths and chugging guitars. – Heather Phares