Newcastle-based alt duo lots of hands, made up of Billy Woodhouse and Elliot Dryden, have unveiled their lead single, “game of zeroes.” The single appears on the duo’s upcoming album, into a pretty room, out January 17th on Fire Talk Records, marking the pair’s label debut.
into a pretty room exists in the tear-stained early mornings of adolescence, just as the sun makes its first appearance over the horizon and thoughts of the night before begin to subside. Solemn yet hopeful, into a pretty room occupies the space between moments of tragedy and triumph, offering a touching rumination on grief and loss, growing up and letting go. Between pints of beer and rounds of Fortnite, lots of hands slowly chipped away at into a pretty room, which collages demos, freewheeling session standouts, and swatches of instrumental electronics.
Lead single “game of zeroes” puts Dryden front and center on a Hank Williams-inspired ode to coming up short. “I play a game of zeroes,” he sings atop acoustic guitar, piano, and digital frills. “Everyone but me will always win.”
Billy Woodhouse and Elliot Dryden, the core duo behind lots of hands, first connected in a Newcastle school music program at age 16. At that point, Woodhouse had been tinkering with lots of hands as a solo musical outlet, self-releasing music on Soundcloud and quietly beginning work on 2020’s mistake. Shortly before that record’s release, Dryden properly joined lots of hands, an effort which was quickly thwarted by global circumstances outside of anyone’s purview.
Separated by geography and global chaos, Woodhouse and Dryden began work on lots of hands remotely, exchanging demos online to craft what would become 2021’s largely instrumental there’s someone in this room just like you, and 2023’s cult favorite fantasy. into a pretty room marks the duo’s first truly collaborative effort, with Dryden often trekking the vast northern English countryside to write and record in Woodhouse’s bedroom studio.
What do you think of “game of zeroes”?
