Hannah Wicklund - War On Women; Calling All
Good Men (Strawberry Moon Records)
Release Date: Out Now
I've been sitting on this one for a little while and, for that, I can only apologise. However, late is better than never so lend me your ears (and eyes) as I bring you 'War On Women', the new album from Hannah Wicklund. The album's title track and calling card is the dark 108 seconds of acapella singing that sets the primal tone of this collection and if you're not in to this then I would suggest you're in the wrong place. You're also just wrong. The feral rock'n'roll squall of 'Red Gorilla' comes next with a heavy groove giving Wicklund's voice the space it needs to soar with sheer power. 'Evil Is A Corporation' (which I misread as 'Elvis Is A Corporation') swaggers and staggers with the confidence of a woman in charge but tipsy on the power she wields.
Track four brings us 'Marionettes', showing off Wicklund's voice while the beat zig-zags before 'The Pier' combines the forces of Kate Bush and Florence Welch to drive the message home. There's a more laid back, countrified tone to 'Diamonds' with an acoustic strum that comes straight from the stoop while 'Daggers' takes us to the end of night slow dance at roadside bar in downtown Nowheresville. The slow jams continue on 'The Token' before 'Whistle To Blow' skitters into life, mixing blues guitars with a fuzzy bass sound and Wicklund's low slung, Bonnie Raitt inspired vocal that gives this song all the power you could hope for in a song.
Four songs from the end of the album we get 'Stockholm', a true-blue, dyed in the wool folk-blues song fed through a country filter that shows what Wicklund do with just acoustic guitar and voice to play with. The blues rock stomp of 'Cowards & Kings' brings some lush organ to the party before penultimate offering 'Total Truth' gives us a glimpse of what Alanis Morissette might have sounded like if she'd followed a more country route through music. We close out with the second half of the album title, 'Calling All Good Men', an another acapella call to arms for allies of women the world over to join the fight. Hannah Wicklund has a powerful voice and the ability to turn it to the power of rock and blues or the subtlety of folk and country - couple that with some cracking tunes and you've got yourself one hell of an album.
More information: https://www.instagram.com/hannahwicklund/
Live Dates:
OCTOBER
17th – Bury, The Met
19th – Edinburgh, Speakeasy
20th – Glasgow, Rum Shack
22nd – Grimsby, Yardbirds