There are a lot of things to like about the new Open Hand album “You And Me”. The best thing about the album is its diversity in combination with a constant high quality. The first surprise is full power opener ‘Pure Concentrated Evil”. Not a nice song as you can imagine, but due to the excellent rhythms, it is turned into a feel good track. The way the strong rhythms are developed into a compelling closing section is a masterstroke.

A thing I particularly like is that the rather basic overall sound is enlightened with emphatic vocals and contrasting odd sounds.

One thing I haven’t figured out yet is how these guys managed to turn fourteen very different songs into a coherent album. It might be because of the above mentioned formula and I’m sure the strong rhythm section has something to do with it. “You And Me” is probably one of the best compilation albums that isn’t one. This album in three words: ambitious interesting fun.