Bio provided by artist:
into a pretty room — lots of hands’ debut on Fire Talk Records — 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. A collage of reworked demos, freewheeling
session standouts, and swatches of instrumental electronics, into a pretty room emerges as lots
of hands’ most thoughtful work to-date. 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.
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.
Between pints of beer and rounds of Fortnite, the two slowly chipped away at into a pretty room,
whose name is lifted from a pair of demos recorded and released in a short span across
November of 2023. The earnest tenderness of these tracks — “into a pretty room” and “the
rain”, which appear newly re-recorded for the album — served as guiding light while the duo
self-engineered the remainder of into a pretty room. Alongside these newly recorded songs
appear Dryden’s unearthed demos, mined and reworked by Woodhouse. 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.” Elsewhere, “masquerade” interrogates defense mechanisms through
electronic-speckled indie folk that is both jaded and joyful.
Dryden’s tracks appear alongside Woodhouse’s own songs, which span from touching
instrumentals written for family, meant to help usher them through a chapter of monumental
loss, to whispered ballads sung with loved ones. “All of my friends agree, you’re in my head,”
Woodhouse intones alongside close collaborator and former roommate Mage Tears, “in my
head with me.” On the understated late album stunner, “run your mouth,” he imagines a lost one
as “a bunch of stars,” and ends the song fixated on “thoughts and memories of us.”
“Woodhouse’s contributions across into a pretty room ache with loss, but settle gracefully into
sparkling ambient sonics that propel the record on its trajectory of self-discovery and
acceptance. “Death is just a word, the feelings a reminder of past nights in the cold,” he filters
through pitch corrected vocals on “the rain,” before sighing a resigned “oh well.”
These individually conceived tracks passed back and forth between the duo, as they ventured
into their first moments of writing in the same place at the same time. “backseat 30” is the duo’s
first joint venture, and the most immediate song in their discography, transforming youthful
anxieties into an explosive anthem. “I don’t wanna waste my life up,” Woodhouse manifests atop
layers of twangy and kinetic instrumentation, “hitting the backseat 30, talking with the dogs and
the birdies, getting my nails all dirty.” Early album centerpiece, “barnyard,” marks another proper
collaboration on the record, with Woodhouse and Dryden’s vocals intertwining and reflecting a
quiet sadness as looped guitars swirl in a pool of sparkling instrumentation: “I’ll brush your hair
through a nightmare, breathing in the country air.”
Newly relocated from Leeds to their current base of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, lots of hands is
anchored by the duo’s friendship, which emanates across the album’s 14 tracks. While
conceived across painful moments of growth and grief, into a pretty room is a decidedly hopeful
effort, crafted between two friends who have spent the better part of the last decade supporting
each other through life’s challenges.
Bio provided by artist:
into a pretty room — lots of hands’ debut on Fire Talk Records — 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. A collage of reworked demos, freewheeling
session standouts, and swatches of instrumental electronics, into a pretty room emerges as lots
of hands’ most thoughtful work to-date. 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.
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.
Between pints of beer and rounds of Fortnite, the two slowly chipped away at into a pretty room,
whose name is lifted from a pair of demos recorded and released in a short span across
November of 2023. The earnest tenderness of these tracks — “into a pretty room” and “the
rain”, which appear newly re-recorded for the album — served as guiding light while the duo
self-engineered the remainder of into a pretty room. Alongside these newly recorded songs
appear Dryden’s unearthed demos, mined and reworked by Woodhouse. 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." Elsewhere, “masquerade” interrogates defense mechanisms through
electronic-speckled indie folk that is both jaded and joyful.
Dryden’s tracks appear alongside Woodhouse’s own songs, which span from touching
instrumentals written for family, meant to help usher them through a chapter of monumental
loss, to whispered ballads sung with loved ones. “All of my friends agree, you’re in my head,”
Woodhouse intones alongside close collaborator and former roommate Mage Tears, “in my
head with me.” On the understated late album stunner, “run your mouth,” he imagines a lost one
as “a bunch of stars,” and ends the song fixated on “thoughts and memories of us.”
“Woodhouse’s contributions across into a pretty room ache with loss, but settle gracefully into
sparkling ambient sonics that propel the record on its trajectory of self-discovery and
acceptance. “Death is just a word, the feelings a reminder of past nights in the cold,” he filters
through pitch corrected vocals on “the rain,” before sighing a resigned “oh well.”
These individually conceived tracks passed back and forth between the duo, as they ventured
into their first moments of writing in the same place at the same time. “backseat 30” is the duo’s
first joint venture, and the most immediate song in their discography, transforming youthful
anxieties into an explosive anthem. "I don't wanna waste my life up," Woodhouse manifests atop
layers of twangy and kinetic instrumentation, "hitting the backseat 30, talking with the dogs and
the birdies, getting my nails all dirty." Early album centerpiece, “barnyard,” marks another proper
collaboration on the record, with Woodhouse and Dryden’s vocals intertwining and reflecting a
quiet sadness as looped guitars swirl in a pool of sparkling instrumentation: “I’ll brush your hair
through a nightmare, breathing in the country air.”
Newly relocated from Leeds to their current base of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, lots of hands is
anchored by the duo’s friendship, which emanates across the album’s 14 tracks. While
conceived across painful moments of growth and grief, into a pretty room is a decidedly hopeful
effort, crafted between two friends who have spent the better part of the last decade supporting
each other through life’s challenges.