Hannah Wicklund turned up in the UK a few years and impressed a number of folk when she toured as part of a package tour, with three other young bands. Her self-released debut, Hannah Wicklund And The Steppin Stones was out at the time. Primarily blues rock, live she went for the power-trio approach, her vocals as free-wailing as her guitar. It was entertaining enough, but the cynic in me felt that ultimately it was her youthful sexuality that was gaining her the most attention live.
Time moves on. We had a pandemic, and fortunately most of us survived. Not all those bands from that night did. Wicklund’s still with us though, and having toured with the much-touted Greta Van Fleet got two of them involved in her sophomore album, The Prize. Drummer Daniel Wagner plays on it, as does bass player/keyboardist Sam Kiszka who also produces. One’s expectations are that this would be a more-or-less direct follow-on to her debut, perhaps a little heavier given the names of those involved, but that ain’t so.
This is a singer-songwriter album. Wicklund’s apparently Nashville-based these days, and, yes, there’s the odd number that tips its hat to country, but it’s more imbued with a few of those qualities vintage New York-based songsmiths like Carol King (back in her Brill Building days) or by virtue of the range of her voice Laura Nyro, given a modern spin and a blues lick or two when needed.
“Part of becoming a woman is trusting your innate feminine instinct and power, which us ladies are all born with, and can choose to tap into at any age” Wicklund said regarding many of the themes permeating The Prize. “Whether you are six or sixty I hope the messages of self-love, self-exploration and resilience will resonate.” Now, whether that’s a bit too new-age hippy, edging deeper into woke territory than you want to, or just plain marketing psycho-babble I leave to you to defer on whatever side of the equation your natural tastes prefer.
The songs are about womanhood; those changing emotions and frustrations felt, invocations to be all one can, in an empowering manner. Do they all succeed? No, life is a learning curve with many side roads and dead-ends whatever your declared sex. But what you get here are indeed songs, crafted as such, and much more mature in form.
The album open with a shuffling, shanty-breezed number called ‘Hell In the Highway’, wailing Siren-esque harmony vocals over a semi-pop rock beat, and as such pleasant enough if you’re familiar with her debut. Much more interesting is the piano-based ‘Witness’ that swings deep with a little soul, some orchestration, not unlike the work of Diane Birch who I admire, not least with her nasal vocal approach, then adding a little distorted guitar and some purposeful angst where she tells us: “I’m embracing some heartache.” Following in the same vein but with a rockier edge is ‘Hide And Seek’ as she belts out lyrics one minute, sighing in whimsical despair the next – This song also finds the Greta Van Fleet rhythm section earning their keep, while Wicklund’s own guitar parks up in the latter half, the actual song ending with the telling lines: “I love you!”
‘Lost Love’ is a little slice of Americana come middle-America rock, an ache in her voice as the song travels its course. Following suit is ‘Songbird Sing’, a little Bonnie Raitt in places, save the wider and higher pitched range of her voice with some crisp warm electric guitar chords as the barest of accompaniment.
Title track ‘The Prize’ proves to be another piano-based number, that with its opening line of “Welcome to my nightmare” intrigues the listener from the get-go to where this tale may lead, and it continues to prove bitter sweet lyrically when orchestration enters to embellish. ‘Can’t Get Enough’ comes on like both an old Neil Young number and something Leo Sayer might’ve wrote, but with a little Southern rock ballad in there alongside some art rock moments, the kind of tune one might come up cherry picking an elder relative’s record collection, and the results working. As with ‘The Prize’ what she can’t actually get enough of tends to remain a little enigmatic. ‘Intervention’ that follows, implies whatever it was wasn’t doing her good, be that love or dope, and it’s another number that goes for that cranked-up Young guitar sound, by way of C, S, N & Y vocal harmonies all presumably performed by herself. It’s a little bit country, with some gospel, rocking gently while she sings her blues with a nicely pitched guitar solo helping sell the song.
‘Dark Passenger’ initially feels like a return to Birch-styled soul crooning, but it rides in on a deep but mellow guitar figure that starts to twitch anxiously a little in reaction to the lyrics, then beefs-up with false bravado as she sings: “Scared myself, straight out of love”. Returning to its gentler soul textured verse structure but with the rhythm section’s presence felt most earnestly, it drifts, extemporises and that twitching guitar lick repeats itself leading into a solo, and back to a bass-led calmer verse as she pleads questioningly, then yet again rocking out expressively to climax. This is a gem, and could be pretty epic live.
The album ends with the chinking guitars of heartache orchestrated blues ballad ‘Sun To Sun’, that concludes appropriately with a fiery guitar solo. It’s easy to reflect that many of these songs tend to revolve around relationship problems and that’s far from the sole problem female-kind has to deal with in life, but overall, this is several steps in the right direction for Hannah Wicklund the songwriter.
- Reviewed by Paul H Birch.
- The Prize is available on Flatiron Recordings/Strawberry Moon and is available now (from here).
- Official Website
Track List:
- Hell In the Highway
- Witness
- Hide And Seek
- Lost Love
- Songbird Sing
- The Prize
- Can’t Get Enough
- Intervention
- Dark Passenger
- Sun To Sun
