Oct. 17, 2012 - Issue #887: Dedfest
Hannah Georgas
Hannah Georgas {recordings_bands_mg} Hannah Georgas {/recordings_bands_mg}
Dine Alone Records,
4
There's a broken heart beating at the centre of Hannah Georgas' self-titled sophomore release, but the Vancouver songwriter does better than just pin it to her sleeve and channel her most sympathy-inducing croons.Instead, the album's 11 songs act as an almost-dozen meditations of sifting through that inner strife, taking a full-spectrum approach to the separation process.
After opener "Elephant" puts a bruised synth line to good use, the strutting drums that propel "Somebody" give its wistful kiss-off some instrumental punch—"I hope somebody someday is gonna break your heart," goes the choral hook, delivered as equal parts sad acceptance and stinger goodbye.
Elsewhere, the mood gently crests with the swaggy swing of "Shortie," Georgas' shifting into moving on, dancing the past away and hoping for a hookup. "Millions" breaks the mood and the subject matter with a success-baiting chorus: "She can do it / What the fuck? / How come I can't?"
Georgas displays her dexterity as a songwriter here, but the album's core is balanced and inviting—be it focused on wrestling with a breakup or applying its energies elsewhere—with a dual pull of lyrical honestly and instrumental skill. Probably the most encompassing take on bittersweet you'll hear all year. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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