Hannah Wicklund - The Prize

by Zena Grieg

published: 19 / 12 / 2024

Label: Strawberry Moon Records
Format: CD

Evocative latest album South Carolina singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hannah Wicklund which combines fine storytelling with strong musical arrangements

Review

‘The Prize’, the latest album by South Carolina singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hannah Wicklund, her second and the follow-up to her 2018 debut album, has just come out. Wicklund, who performed in 2023 at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, created the artwork herself for ‘The Prize’, a mix of catchy blues-tinged psych-rock with more meditative, introspective ballads, ably backed by Michigan rock band Greta Van Fleet. Themes of vulnerability and self-discovery underpin the tracks, carried by Wicklund’s rich, soulful vocals. Songs to listen out for in this ten-track collection include:- the expressive opener ‘Hell in the Hallway’; blues-driven ‘Witness’; the adventurous, experimental ‘Hide and Seek'; the stripped-back, emotive ‘Songbird Sing’ on the pain of healing after heartbreak; the intensely personal title track with its delicate string accompaniment, celebrating resilience: “I had to make room in my life for the woman I wanted to be/Loving myself is what’s brought her to me”; anthemic classic rock ‘Can’t Get Enough’; the turbulent ‘Dark Passenger’ on being in thrall to a relationship: ”I scared myself straight out of love/Loving you and your dark passenger”; and the closer ‘Sun to Sun’ with its soaring guitar solo and sardonic, empowering lines: “Made me work from sun to sun/But a woman’s work is never done/So with sharpened eyes/And a sharpened tongue/I will carry on”. Atmospheric, delicately nuanced, ‘The Prize’ is an evocative record which combines captivating storytelling with engrossing musical arrangements.

Track Listing:-

1 Hell in the Hallway
2 Witness
3 Hide and Seek
4 Lost Love
5 Songbird Sing
6 The Prize
7 Can’t Get Enough
8 Intervention
9 Dark Passenger
10 Sun to Sun