{"product_id":"wallis-bird-hands","title":"WALLIS BIRD - Hands","description":"\u003ch2 style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: black;\" data-mce-style=\"margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; color: black;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\" data-mce-style=\"color: #ff0000;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCD\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf 2019’s exceptional \u003cem\u003eWoman\u003c\/em\u003e represented an ambitious state of the world address, Hands – also known as\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eNine and a Half Songs For Nine and a Half Fingers\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e– finds \u003cstrong\u003eWallis Bird\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eturning the spotlight onto herself, raising issues that are sometimes far harder to confront, only to emerge optimistic and whole. Among these are issues of trust, alcohol abuse, stagnation, self-censorship and self-improvement, some addressed through personal recollections of crucial moments accumulated over the last two years. Each, however, is delivered by a voice uncommonly blessed with joy, ingenuity and empathy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhere its predecessor was bathed in soul music, Hands adapts sounds from Birds’s early childhood. Barring the intimately confessional ‘I’ll Never Hide My Love Away’, its songs are flushed with bright colours, many familiar from the 1980s and ‘90s. Its bookends are ‘\u003cem\u003eGo\u003c\/em\u003e’, whose smooth R\u0026amp;B inflections provide a neat bridge from the album’s forerunner, and ‘\u003cem\u003ePretty Lies\u003c\/em\u003e’, its euphoric conclusion powered by forty chunky chord progressions. In-between, Hands rarely pauses.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe jubilant ‘What’s Wrong With Changing’ appropriates the rhythmic discipline of Janet Jackson’s Control, Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet., and ‘\u003cem\u003eI Lose Myself Completely\u003c\/em\u003e’ revels in\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTrevor Horn\u003c\/strong\u003e’s work, while the grinning ‘\u003cem\u003eNo Pants Dance\u003c\/em\u003e’, written after witnessing neighbours celebrating lockdown’s end, would have delighted Prince, and ‘\u003cem\u003eDreamwriting\u003c\/em\u003e’ – “a reminder to myself of one of my most favourite memories in recent years” – is full of warmth, lyrically and musically. ‘Aquarius’ dreamy chord changes and unexpected pedal steel, meanwhile, help unleash some of the prettiest instrumental sections 2022’s likely to enjoy, and there are pensive moments, too, not least ‘\u003cem\u003eThe Dive\u003c\/em\u003e’, which describes a gesture Bird treasures as “one of the most brave and romantic memories I own” and which wields a muted trumpet and Mediterranean guitars while its melody skips along dreamily as though through a summer meadow. If the sonic palette is different, then, Hands is still defiantly, happily Wallis Bird.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mount Silver Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":41685616885921,"sku":"SDZ-42541","price":12.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/products\/Wallis-Bird_-_Hands_e0684c4f-b14c-4816-9de9-4e5b704d4f82.jpg?v=1646761282","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/wallis-bird-hands","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}