If I had to pigeonhole the catalogue of Hands in the Dark with just one word, I’d choose: post-minimalism. For what unites the releases of the Besançon-based label, is a will to reduction. On a surface level, they hardly have anything in common. »We find it difficult to name a single genre that distinguishes the artists in our catalogue«, the label-founders Morgan and Onite once said. HITD releases both melancholic Ambient as well as playful Kraut or highfalutin Jazz. Perhapsone could say, »their overall approach to music is largely experimental or avant-garde«. I’d go a bit further: all albums in Hands in the Dark’s back-log are deliberate and unobtrusive.
Melos Kalpa
Die Reise Zur Monsalwäsche
Waves
Nattdett
Three examples: Part of Hands In The Dark’s roster (and a regular of HHV magazine) is Läuten der Seele. The solo endeavor of the Brannten Schnüre veteran sounds like the soundtrack to a »deep, profound crater whose void indicates a great loss«, as Pippo Kuhzart recently put it. Not quite Ambient, not quite Electro-acoustic, Läuten der Seele sketches haunted landscapes with distorted Heimatfilm snippets.
Selvhenter jumps on a very different bandwagon. At first glance, the futurist, psychedelic, at times ecstatic music of the all-female Jazz quartet bears no similarities to the spirit worlds Läuten der Seele frequents. Yet, their patient, non-linear development of motifs stems from a like-minded approach. The bet was a success: Selvhenter won 2023’s Danish Music Awards for »Best Jazz Album«.
Another highlight of Hands In The Dark’s catalogue is Tomaga’s »Intimate Intensity«. Stylistically, the composition is reminiscent of cinematic renditions of Steve Reich’s rhythm pieces or Laurie Spiegel. Yet, they tell of a rare tenderness. »It’s music that steals itself into and fulfills you«, Sebastian Hinz mused in 2021 for HHV magazine.
A diverse catalogue
If you’re looking for Harsh Noise or Brötzmann-style improvisations, Hands In The Dark might not be the best place to start looking. Rather, the label seems to focus on the kind of experimental music that does not let up on beauty. »The common factor is that the music we put out needs to move us«, the label’s founders put it. This includes music that could become the soundtrack to their lives or music emerging out of friendships. They elaborate: »it has become important for us to be proactive in resisting to mass culture and all the negative things it brings.«
»The common factor is that the music we put out needs to move us«.
Morgan & Onito (Hands In The Dark)
This became obvious during the 2024 French legislative election. It’s »not our habit« to directly comment political affairs, Hands In The Dark remarked in a Facebook post from June 17th. Yet, at a »turning point of our history« they could not help but oppose the »nauseating ideas of the Rassemblement National, its unbridled racism, its homophobia, its positions against the popular classes and women’s rights, etc«. The beautiful ain’t quietist. It’s quietly engaged.
You won’t have to search Hands In The Dark’s catalogue for long to find music that counterposes a desolate world. Matthias Peuch celebrates glaciers threatened by climate change, Andrea Taeggi uses Cold war military technology to conceive beats, Schatterau grapples with post-GDR alienation. All of them share a minimal beauty that sets beauty against mass culture. Hands In The Dark has a sharper profile than it gives themselves credit for.
