Hannah
Double Double Whammy
Sep 03, 2020 Lomelda
Lomelda’s Hannah Read does what she does best on her latest album, Hannah. Namely, Read peels back the events of her life to reveal open-hearted ruminations on loneliness, long distances, chance encounters, and missed connections. All suffused with the appropriate amount of emotional depth and a warmly fuzzed lo-fi delivery. Read’s experience doesn’t have to be your experience in order for you to capture the feel of what’s going on.
The Los Angeles-based Read made several trips to her brother’s East Texas studio before green-lighting the album. The travels and sincerity involved show through. If you connect with Read’s music, but can’t put a finger on why, here’s a thought: Read loves her songs so that you can love them too. The mix of thrumming guitars, keyboards, and strings that envelop Read’s plaintive voice on the opening “Kisses” deliver an immediate grip. While the back and forth travels of “Hannah Sun,” with Read’s voice telescoping in and out, provide details that while specific are universally indistinct: “was it Jersey, at the airport?”
Whether Read gets appropriately punchy on the “give it all you got” chorus of “Wonder” or ponderously playful in reeling off a list of favorite bands on “It’s Lomelda,” Hannah wears its heart comfortably on its sleeve. The album is Lomelda’s longest to date, which allows its ebb and flow to slowly drag the listener into her world. A wobbly synth line here, an “is it too late in Texas?” there. Or elsewhere, the gorgeous nearly too far reach of “Hannah Happiest” that concludes with being called by one’s own name matched up against the clangorous instrumental “Both Mode.” And often it’s just the sound of the right words strung together that catch your ear: “Say somethin’ sweet, soft as she sinks into me,” on the concluding “Hannah Please.”
The songs of Hannah hang together like all of Read’s other recordings. Not in some linear or thematic fashion, but like an assortment of boats bobbing in the safety of their harbor. Big, small, loud, quiet, but all tethered to the earth with the same level of care. Pennant line to mooring, mooring to chain, chain to anchor, but free to drift with the tides. All of them lovely and lit from within. (www.lomelda.bandcamp.com)
Author rating: 8/10
Average reader rating: 8/10
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