REFLECTIONS ON MAKING “DREAM TO RIDE”: liner notes _______________________________________________________ “Dream to Ride” is Hand’s third record of new, original music in the span of three consecutive years. The outpouring of unfettered creativity in such rapid yearly succession is rare for any band. That creativity can be heard in every moment of “Dream to Ride,” an album that features eight friends and musicians hitting their stride, playing, writing and arranging with fierce passion, freedom, and focus. I believe it is our most brave and adventurous record. We knew that Nate, our bass player, and Nick Morcaldi, our drummer, were off to pursue college ambitions at summer’s end. We didn’t anticipate that, soon after the record was made, Mariel would leave for new horizons, relocating to another state. It is not difficult to discern, in retrospect, through the narrative flow of many songs, two cohesive, prescient themes: the interplay of love and friendship at the point where they intersect, navigating uncertain, choppy waters; and, the confronting of different kinds of loss, either impending or already experienced, expressed throughout our playing, in every note, in every vocal inflection, in every written word. We did not realize until we had completed it that we had made a concept album, and that the songs were interlocked and most accurately understood as pieces which, when heard together and in sequence, would chart the topography of beauty and pain in human relationships. The songs, tough and tender, also hint at the miraculous possibility, with time, of a reassessment, a redefinition, and a renewal. “Dream to Ride” reveals itself as a truthful mirror for the musicians, songwriters, and listeners to see themselves and each other with searing clarity. This record is joyfully eclectic, dipping into Rock, free form Jazz/ Rock, Bossa Nova, folk, European “chanson”, Country, and Blues, whenever those inexhaustible wells of music best suited our needs. The mingling of musical genres, together with the intoxicating mix of different generations and life experiences within the band, produced something unexpected, and that “something” has come to define us more vividly with every ensuing record. As i write these words, Hand is already deep into the making of new music, with a dazzling new female vocalist whose voice and persona are helping to point us in a new direction. My gratitude to Mariel for renewing my inspiration as a songwriter through our partnership and friendship cannot be overstated. Whatever the future may bring our way, “Dream to Ride” will be the yardstick by which Hand will measure its best work. Marc Osborne New Haven, Connecticut March, 2016 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------