Hannah Wicklund – The Inbetween
Format: 10″ Vinyl EP – Digital
Label: Hannah Wicklund
Releasedatum: 17 april 2020
South Carolinian-born Hannah Wicklund will release ‘The Inbetween’ a very special 10” inch vinyl EP of four stripped back solo performances on Friday 17th April 2020.
The EP is available to pre-order from Tuesday April 7th via https://shop.hannahwicklund.com
Produced and recorded by her older brother, Luke Mitchell (The High Divers), in their parents’ home on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, the EP features intimate performances that sees Hannah getting back to her roots. The EP was mixed by Phil Ekand mastered by Ed Brooksin Seattle, WA.
No one has ever heard Hannah Wicklundquite like this. Known for her searing riffs, big voice, and rockand roll sound, her last self-titled record proved that rock is not dead. But what is her new EP The Inbetween out to prove? Simple –she is more than a singer, guitar player, or songwriter. She is a true artist. What is evident on these four stripped down songs is that Hannah is an incredible, emotionally moving vocalist.
Wicklund decided to take four songs from her self-titled release, Bomb Through the Breeze, Ghost, Meet You Againand Shadowboxes and Porcelain Faces and strip them down to their rawest form.
“Piano was my first instrument, but I pretty much stopped playing when I picked up the guitar and traded in classical music for rock n roll,” Says Hannah. “Those classical roots are undeniable, however, as I get older,I appreciate them more and more.”
Continues Hannah, “I was at home visiting my parents and had my childhood upright and a little time off the road, so I decided to teach myself to play again. I did so by creating a piano arrangement for my most guitar-riff driven song as a challenge of sorts, and I loved how it turned out. That version of Bomb Through the Breezeis what inspired me to do this project with my brother.”
The EP starts out with a ballad version of Bomb Through the Breeze, an unexpected take to say the least. If you’ve seen a live show of Hannah’s in the last two years, you’ve likely witnessed her play Shadowboxes and Porcelain Faces, just her and a guitar, which is exactly whatyou’ll find on The Inbetween. The title derived from a line in the song, “It’s the inbetween where we’ll figure out what your story says and what you’re all about.”Thesong serves as a reminder to not get too caught up in social media.
The last song you’ll hear is a chilling version of ‘Ghost’, which will strike a chord for many of us at home right now due to the coronavirus epidemic. “I thought it was the right timeto showcase a different side of myself,” reflects Hannah. “I’ve been playing these songs for years now, and so I wanted to challenge myself and give them a lot more depth by stripping everything back to the bare essentials.”
01. Bomb Through The Breeze
02. Meet You Again
03. Shadowboxes and Porcelain Faces
04. Ghost
Track by Track BY Hannah Wicklund
1. BOMB THROUGH THE BREEZE (3:28)
The original version of Bomb Through the Breeze is the opening track of my last record and boasts a big guitar riff at the heart of the song. Lyrically it’s a rocker, which is part of why I wanted to flip it on its head and see what a softer approach would feel like. Sitting down at the piano for the first time in years, it was a challenge to transfer what was in my head to my hands. I had never quite arranged a song this way before, as my piano career ended many moons ago playing classical music and Beatles songs. No joke, it was a real labour of love for the second time around with this song. Through the process, I learned just how much of an influence my classical upbringing had on my musicianship. I feel as though it helped open a completely new door for me.
2. MEET YOU AGAIN (5:01)
I’m a sucker for a drop D tuning, especially on an acoustic guitar. There’s something so sweet in having that low anchor there sonically, and Alice in Chains perhaps does it best. I took my drop D song Meet You Again and did my own unplugged version.
3. SHADOWBOXES AND PORCELAIN FACES (4:38)
The most powerful moment I feel on stage each night is in when I’m alone, just me and my guitar, singing Shadowboxes and Porcelain Faces. There’s something about going from a roar to a whisper that makes me focus so intently on each word as I deliver it. I wanted to capture that same kind of a performance for this EP and offer everyone a version they’ve seen live, so I stripped it down to its truest form.
4. GHOST (4:36)
The emotions tied to Ghost echo loudly on this EP. The song is about a truly lonely, tormented time in my life where I felt trapped in a silly house. Much like how I’m feeling in this quarantine as I write this, ironically. When I approached this song, I knew I wanted to do it in a way where the lyrics might land differently for me, which they did. I certainly felt like I learned more about the meaning of this song and was able to give it a more honest performance than the original.
