WALLIS BIRD – Hands – 2LP – Vinyl

2LP – Black Vinyl

If 2019s exceptional Woman represented an ambitious state of the world address, Hands also known as Nine and a Half Songs For Nine and a Half Fingers findsWallis Bird turning 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.

Where its predecessor was bathed in soul music, Hands adapts sounds from Birdss early childhood. Barring the intimately confessional Ill Never Hide My Love Away, its songs are flushed with bright colours, many familiar from the 1980s and 90s. Its bookends are Go, whose smooth R&B inflections provide a neat bridge from the albums forerunner, and Pretty Lies, its euphoric conclusion powered by forty chunky chord progressions. In-between, Hands rarely pauses.

The jubilant Whats Wrong With Changing appropriates the rhythmic discipline of Janet Jacksons Control, Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet., and I Lose Myself Completely revels in Trevor Horns work, while the grinning No Pants Dance, written after witnessing neighbours celebrating lockdowns end, would have delighted Prince, and Dreamwriting 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 2022s likely to enjoy, and there are pensive moments, too, not least The Dive, 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.

Tracklist:

Side A

1. Go

2. Whats Wrong With Changing?

3. I Lose Myself Completely

4. The Power of a Word

5 . Aquarius

6. F.K.K. (No Pants Dance)

Side B

7. Dream Writing

8. Ill Never Hide My Love Away

9. The Dive

10. Pretty Lies

Side C

1. Go (Instrumental)

2. Whats Wrong With Changing? (Instrumental)

3. I Lose Myself Completely (Instrumental)

4 . The Power of a Word (Instrumental)

5. Aquarius (Instrumental)

6. F.K.K. (No Pants Dance) (Instrumental)

Side D

7. Dream Writing (Instrumental)

8 . Ill Never Hide My Love Away (Instrumental)

9 . The Dive (Instrumental)

10 . Pretty Lies (Instrumental)