christian medice – “No Hands”
Singer-songwriter christian medice, from New York City, returns to the blog with the buoyant and atmospheric alt pop track “No Hands.
“No Hands” is a song about escaping the weight and pressures of everyday life. It’s about celebrating the spontaneous and exhilarating moments that you can have with someone who is close to you. christian medice captures this experience in a way that I find hard to draw comparisons to. That is a compliment because it feels like he is doing something unique within the current musical space… but if I had to draw comparisons to what he sounds like, it would be the melancholy of Vildecrossed with the positivity of Speelberg.
At its heart, “No Hands” for me is a study in musical texture and awesome music production at its finest. Just putting on your headphones and listening to the spidery, crystalline guitar work. That hypnotic warbling bass and the head-bopping drums is just an experience. The track doesn’t stop there though. We have the flaring synth pads that in places faintly reminds me of “Any Colour You Like” by Pink Floyd, but also the slick use of ear candy. The clever little dropouts, sounds being pushed into reverb and delay. It’s just a striking arrangement that is so well put together and it’s done in a style that feels modern and fresh.
The vocal of christian medice is chilled, reflective and conversational. It’s breezy and, like the other musical elements within this song, it just washes over you. It took me many listens before I thought of who he reminded me of. Then it suddenly struck me that there’s an undercurrent of Paul Simon’s work here. It has the same vulnerability, tenderness and sense of reflection.
christian medice elaborates that he “Created this song with my good friend and collaborator Jordan Greenwald. He played the initial guitar part for me and I was instantly inspired. The lyrics and story came to me in less than an hour. The song always felt pretty special to me as I lived in New York City and I didn’t have a single care about anything. I wasn’t worried about stress or money and everything in the city felt so vibrant and alive.”