EPK

‘Hand of Love’ is a rock ballad that builds on the foundations of the original song by Dignam & Goff. Although the cover respects the lyrics, length, tone and tempo of the original, the Arracht arrangement takes the challenge of expressing in various layers of competing vocals and instruments, the inner turmoil of a person facing death who is not ready to give up on life. The song addresses also the question of pain and the various ways we cope at the extremes through the care of others and the closeness of those we love most.

While never deviating from its rock core, Hand of Love builds layers of instrumentation into the song including noticeably dissonant notes on piano, splashed into the music as a reminder of the confusion and angst of the situation. The song opens with a clean acoustic guitar and vocal as the lyrics create the first image of a lone candle flickering in the darkness. A slide guitar in the background hints at the feelings of loneliness and uncertainty that are developed throughout the work. As we approach the first chorus, the song builds up with additional layers of piano and electric guitar until the two vocals start to interplay.

The electric guitars are more prominent after the first chorus as the song takes a step up in intensity and even the first flicker of anger in the lyrics. By the end of the second chorus, the song enters the high point of its exploration of anger, fear and confusion. Deaglán turns from leading on vocals to repeating a powerful refrain (“Feel no pain”) while Switch explores a second more expressive vocal line that together resolve before a sudden stop in the music when Deaglán sings a gentler, sadder goodbye to pain and to life.

Switch and Deaglán’s vocal interplay is a part of the emotional complexity of the song. Deaglán leads in a clean, pop rock style conveying the evolving emotions of the song while Switch asks the hard question in the second vocal line, “Can you feel the pain?”. As the song rises to its highest point of intensity, the vocals change places and interact in the way that competing emotions do when we cannot see the way forward. Deaglán delivers the saddest part of the song at the very end with the fading and despairing goodbye, “I feel no pain.”

Arracht doesn’t try to move away from the fact that the original song was released in 1990. Switch and Deaglán decided that their objective was not to update the style or the era of the original but to inject greater intensity and complexity into the work. This takes nothing away from the powerful stripped back delivery of Dignam & Goff in the original. As usual, Switch and Deaglán looked to see where they could take the song and what could be done to it that added real feeling and enhanced meaning.