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Rating: Heat, sun-drenched landscapes, a great thirst: essentially, listening to this album stimulates the senses.
But let's put hallucinations aside and try to understand who on earth Da Hand In The Middle are, arms stolen from the agriculture of Montecchio (Terni). The sextet grinds out blues rock and extracts a rancid juice with hints of country, folk, and even swing, essentially a small rural orchestra.
Compared to the numerous followers of Jon Spencer, our guys shuffle the deck and play the ace of personality: Bake Him A Cake is the opening track that slaps you in the face, Joe Flies To El Limon is a South American interlude, Sandy Room is the big ballad with choirs, Sweet Oven sounds as if Tom Waits was born in the Umbrian countryside, The Redeemer is the dreamlike track, where the lights go out and the volumes lower. Da Hand In The Middle are more than just simple country freaks; I would define them as a successful graft between popular music in the broadest sense of the term: nothing ethnic but a lot of soul, a redneck look and (rotten?) rocker heart. Perhaps a truly memorable track is missing, but the starting material is of good quality, like the faux leather wrapping the CD cover. A promising debut album, which makes you want to hear them live.
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