Hannah Scott subjects herself – and her listeners – to a gamut of emotions as she recalls the extreme highs and lows of family relationships on her new album, Absence Of Doubt.
Release Date: 25th October 2024
Label: Self Release
Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital
A TIP OF AN ICEBERG
If we’d needed a reminder of why Hannah Scott is such a favourite of ours (and, as it so happens, we didn’t) then she’s provided that reminder, right here, with her new album, Absence Of Doubt. We discovered Hannah’s unique gift producing songs that cascade with warmth, sincerity and intimacy when her 2023 EP, Ancient Lights, crossed our radar. What we didn’t know then was that we’d experienced just the tip of the Hannah Scott iceberg; she has as knack of ensnaring emotion and, with Absence of Doubt, she subjects herself, and her listeners, to a veritable gamut of those emotions as she tells her stories of parenthood, family unity and bereavement.
Hannah has taken a new approach for Absence Of Doubt. First off, she’s assembled an impressive array of backing musicians to add breadth, substance and a poppy flavour to many of her songs; her band includes such names as Geoff Holroyd (Feeder) on drums, Matt Aston (Lucy Spraggan) on bass and George Boomsma (Katherine Priddy) on guitar. The band certainly do provide that sought-after substance and, thankfully – and maybe it’s because Hannah recorded her piano parts at home and vocals in her wardrobe (!) – they do so without compromising the intimacy and sincerity that are such a feature of Hannah Scott’s songs.
Secondly, for the first time, Hannah has employed the services of a co-producer – and not just ANY co-producer, either. She’s persuaded acclaimed engineer/producer Adrian Hall – known for his work with Tori Amos and Anna Calvi – to sit in on the sessions and the result is an album with a rich, clean, sometimes surprisingly widescreen, sound that always pays the appropriate level of respect to Hannah’s lyrics.
SINGING JUST FOR YOU
It’s the wisely selected lead single, Bigger Than My Body, that gets Absence Of Doubt up and running and, after a shimmering start, that widescreen sound is right there, centre-stage. The folky roots of the song are clearly evident and the strident rhythm and the strings move things along nicely. Hannah’s voice is reminiscent of Sandy Denny; it all adds up to a song that you’ll find yourself humming or singing as you go about your daily chores.
Geoff’s drums feature strongly on The Dead Of Night, and George chips in with a soaring guitar solo, but none of this detracts from the intimacy of Hannah’s piano and voice delivery – she sounds as though she’s singing just for you – and it’s the same story for Lines, a grand ballad with lush instrumentation, but with Hannah’s vocals retained as the focal point.
FAMILY AFFAIRS
Hannah turns her attention to her own domestic experiences for the excellent Broken Homes, the second of the album’s three singles, and there’s absolutely no doubting her sincerity as she sings lyrics like: “Sometimes you have to break the whole to mend the family; sometimes broken turns out for better.” She’s talking about the family that her father grew up in, and also about her own current family, and that’s a theme that she’s about to explore even more deeply…
Written at home in 2022, Love You Like I Did is the album’s current single. It’s a truly wonderful song and my personal favourite. The song is a love song to Hannah’s two stepsons and, with lines like: “I may not have held you first, but I love you like I did,” the song is a hugely effective celebration of the love that surpasses family ties in a non-traditional family. And, once again, the sincerity of Hannah’s lyrics is evident from her delivery. Once again, also, the instrumental backing is strong but restrained, enabling the listener to absorb Hannah’s potent message.
light relief
Maybe we need a little light relief after such intensity and that relief comes along in the form of Stone in My Mouth, an anthemic rocker in which quiet verses with a broody bass/drum rhythm are the counterpoint to Hannah’s raucous, confident, “There’s a stone in my mouth and it cuts my tongue” chorus.
As I’ve already remarked, warmth, sincerity and intimacy are Hannah Scott trademarks and the three songs she’s chosen to close Absence Of Doubt all fit that mould to a ‘T’. Hannah celebrates her arrival in one of the world’s great cities as she sings “The home lights rise to San Francisco cries, the streets applaud our final curtain call” in San Francisco, a gentle piano ballad, before the band return to wrap themselves around Hannah for the soothing Winter Coat. The band are on fine form here; Matt’s bass swoops and loops, the strings fizz and Geoff is all over his kit whilst, in the centre of it all, Hannah is as warm, sincere and intimate as ever.
DEEPLY PERSONAL
It is, perhaps, appropriate that Hannah should choose to close an album of such personal contemplation with the most personal song of all. She’s written songs before to celebrate her relationship with her late father – most notably My Dad and I, on her 2014 album, The Space In Between – and, to conclude Absence Of Doubt, she has chosen to relive her final moments in his company with the devastating Carry You Out. The Guardian newspaper once commented that Hannah Scott “…reduces women and children to tears – in a good way.” When, in Carry You Out, she sings: “Your arms carried this little girl as we’ll carry you now. You carried me into this world and I will carry you out,” you kinda get what they’re saying.
Watch the official video to Broken Homes – the second of three singles to be taken from Absence Of Doubt – here:
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