Open Hand: beyond the last horizon

In the century effectively more detrimental to freedom of speech and expression, more creatively restrictive with imagination curtailed in the name of image, we feel like our taste is being KO’d regularly. That’s why an album like Open Hand’s ‘You And Me’ appears to be even more important: it is huge, it is brave, it is different, heavy, mellow. It rocks like the heaviest muthas but also seduces with an allure of the Zeppelin’s subtlest moments.

‘You and Me’ travels the sonic styles as if it were a cosmos, an ‘Enterprise’-type explorer on a 45½-minute mission. Blasting off with a fury of ‘Pure Concreted Evil’, it sets you off on a journey that has no barriers, no borders and no limits.

‘Her Song’ buzzes softly but joyously [funk-lite] like a cross between Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers; ‘Tough Girl’ raises tempo with arrangement so structured to underline that one should harbour expectations of all kinds, in particular - anticipation. Each song serves next facet of the band and it is great to hear a combo speaking so many a ‘lingo’, be it indie, metal, stoner, hardcore, prog, garage rock or something gentler.

The titular cut is this epic soundarama that spreads from Pink Floyd to Jane’s Addiction with some harmonies Supertramp wouldn’t shame of - simply superb! That is not the only supreme moment here, there are plenty of other jewels such as intricately guitar’d power-tune of ‘Tough Guy’, ‘Newspeak’ that sounds like NIN lost in psychedelic [XTC] catacombs, ‘The Kaleidoscope’ opening doors to disco-Arcadia but then ‘Hard Night’ is a gargantuan, avalanche-sized finale… The pleasure doesn’t end here because there is a bonus - a floating, arousing, whisper-to-scream beauty entitled ‘Elevator’.

And yet, as the PR claims, “The only thing more remarkable than the music, however, is the fact that ‘You And Me’ exists at all. Only a year ago, it looked as if the band may never make another album. The summer of 2003 was a dark time for Open Hand. Following a European tour with Poison The Well in support of its acclaimed debut ‘The Dream’, the band's bassist and guitarist abruptly quit, forcing guitarist/vocalist Justin Isham and drummer Alex Rodriguez to put Open Hand on hiatus.

Rodriguez soon left to tour with the more active Saosin and Isham retreated to his home studio in Los Angeles, determined to reinvent Open Hand. Isham quickly reconnected with drummer Paxton Pryor, a longtime friend who was then playing in the LA garage band The Vacation. Pryor proved to be the secret weapon that Open Hand was missing – a versatile, deep pocket drummer able to shift on a dime from frantic metal blasts to Bonham-esque power grooves and, as a matter of fact, to anything in between. And he could sing. Pryor soon left The Vacation to focus on Open Hand full-time.

Isham and Pryor spent the summer of 2004 recording with producer (and former Shiner bassist) Paul Malinowski. Since the completion of the album, Open Hand has reteamed with original bassist Michael Anastasi and onetime guitarist Sean Woods to complete the most solid lineup in the band's five-year history. Extensive touring is planned for 2005, including return trips to Europe and, frankly my dear, can’t f**king wait!

Open Hand was formed in Hollywood in 1999 and their ‘debut’ album, ‘The Dream’, a collection of the band's long out of print EPs [‘Radio Days’ and ‘Evolutions’, in 1999 and 2000 respectively on own Propaganda label] with a couple of new bonus tracks, released in 2003. ‘You And Me’ is a fantastic 14-track masterwork on which Open Hand cover more musical ground than most artists do in their entire careers. It’s rock but not as you may be used to. And, if this is indication of what Open Hand are capable off, I can’t wait for future releases!

9/10