EP Review : Hannah Wicklund – The Inbetween

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

South Carolina-born Hannah Wicklund releases The Inbetween a very special 10” inch vinyl EP of four stripped back solo performances on Friday 17th April 2020. The EP is available via the webstore (https://www.hannahwicklund.com), and if you order the vinyl edition of the EP you will automatically receive the EP digitally.

Wicklund decided to take four songs from her self-titled CD release Hannah Wiklund & The Stepping Stones, in Bomb Through the Breeze, Ghost, Meet You Again and Shadow Boxes and Porcelain Faces and strip them down to their rawest form, based on the piano and acoustic guitars, relying on the strength of the songs and her vocal delivery to provide the power, rather than the out and out blues-rock riffs that she is better known for.

The EP starts out with a ballad version of Bomb Through the Breeze, a beautiful rendition on the piano which coupled with the delicate strength of Hannah’s voice threatens to be a show stopper if this was ever performed live like this.

Meet You Again is a gentle ballad on guitar, with a simple accompaniment to the vocal lines, including some sparse keyboards I think behind the melody, and some Alex Lifeson-like skills on the guitar before the final chorus where Hannah really lets rip on the vocals.

If you’ve seen a live show of Hannah’s in the last two years, you’ve likely witnessed her play Shadow Boxes and Porcelain Faces with just a guitar to accompany her, and this is exactly what you’ll find on The Inbetween.   

The title of the EP is derived from a line in the song, “It’s the in-between where we’ll figure out what your story says and what you’re all about.”  The song serves as a reminder to not get too caught up in social media, which could be a very contemporary cautionary word of advice for all of us.

The last song you’ll hear is a chilling version of Ghost, backed by electric guitar, which will also strike a chord for many of us at home right now due to the coronavirus epidemic.

“I thought it was the right time to 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.”

Photo – Laurence Harvey

Website : https://www.hannahwicklund.com

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/hannahwicklundss