Song Recommendation: “One Hand” by Hiding Places (2026)

 I love a good slow-burn rocker that feels like it’s being sung through gritted teeth (metaphorically if not literally). And “One Hand” from Hiding Place’s darkly gothic, stripped down yet still powerful The Secret to Good Living released earlier this year, is a gut-wrenching standout. I’ve been struck by a lot of good guitar solos this year and the one that comes at the end of this track really hits that perfect strain of guitar solo: where it’s not about any one kind of pyrotechnic ability or technical deployment but the way a single instrument can convey and then mutate the themes of the song itself. The lyrics are stark in their self reflection. “I want too much. Too many friends to count one hand, or two, or ten. I took too much too quick because I want to win just like they did. They want too much. They want too much.” And as the guitar solo rings out into a gentle set of plucking notes that lull us into a sense of oceanic security, it’s only the fact that right as it fades out we’re returned to the beginning hard-edged ambiguity of the first notes of the song (even cutting off mid-sentence) that shows how skillful that guitar solo was in anticipating the ultimate sisyphean struggle of self-inflicted rejection.