Album review: “Red Night” by The Hundred In Hands

Falling within the dream pop realm that’s also home to the likes of Young Galaxy and Lykke Li, New York City’s The Hundred In The Hands will celebrate the release of their second album, Red Night, on June 14. Self-produced by the male-female duo of Jason Friedman and Eleanore Everdell, THITH’S debut 2010 album is followed by a breathy, electronic dreamscape packed with floating vocals and haunting beats.

The songs weave a journey of love and discovery buried beneath the gritty, lonesome night. Quick, somebody finds a vampire movie for these songs to soundtrack! Dreamy, forlorn, and really quite perfect.

Opening with ‘Empty Stations’, a track that builds up to crisp, punctuating harmonies, we are introduced to Everdell’s washing vocals that easily lull and command.

Complementary percussion and plinking guitar chords color in the spaces around the lyrics, and tune the ears for the nine remaining tracks. The second song, ‘Recognise’ and song six, ‘SF Summer’, are two eager gems that boast moveable sounds, and pick up for any lagging moments elsewhere. Song eight, ‘Tunnels’, pinches a more vulnerable nerve, as the lucid Everdell sings “in the middle of the night, things fall apart” against a bubbling beat. In fact, the latter part of the record seems to turn more melancholic, stirring up images of a heartbroken urbanite.

The majority of Red Night feels airy, even on the darker tracks that touch on heavier themes of loneliness and rejection.

If any shortcomings exist, it is in these wispy words that occasionally get lost in the mechanical background union. Emotionally, however, it doesn’t really seem to matter, as the (sometimes) lonesome lyrics create a conflicting dichotomy with the zealous harmonies.

The body grooves, while the operatic voice and echoing baritone in ‘Faded’ sing “we fade away / you’re always breaking my heart…” Is one meant to bop their head in response to a painful breakup? Well… actually, why not? It definitely beats angry sobbing. Self-explorative and open hearted, Red Night supplies an introspective record of being human on a reflective, wanderlust night in the city. Definitely worth a listen or two.