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With strains of country, echoes of soul and all underpinned
by rock, Hannah Aldridge has unleashed a mightily impressive debut album for
music lovers far and wide. Hannah has dug deep into her heritage, she is the
daughter of respected producer Walt Aldridge, and has successfully exploited
the rich sounds of both Muscle Shoals and Nashville. The result of this twin
city influence is RAZOR WIRE, a straight from the heart record, rich in soul
injected roots rock with a sufficient desired twang to tempt listeners from the
country fraternity.
Produced in Nashville under the stewardship of Chris Mara,
this 11 track - 47 minute collection possesses an interesting mix of both upbeat
tunes and emotive ballads with a faint resemblance to the sounds of fellow
highly touted female artists Holly Williams and Lindi Ortega. Hannah has drawn
on her eventful past experiences to pen the majority of the tracks and it’s to
the album’s credit that the standout number has the tendency to differ with
each listen.
The sole cover song on the record has a close Muscle Shoals
link in that ‘Try’, apart from being
a Jason Isbell original, also features his band the 400 Unit backing the track.
This is about as heavy as the sound gets on the record and suits Hannah’s
powerful vocals well. The high energy rock feel is also evident on selected
other tracks especially with the guitar breaks on ‘Old Ghost’ which like many of the tunes is driven along by soulful
keys. Also in a similar up tempo style, Hannah launches the album with the anger
tainted ‘You Ain’t Worth The Fight’
to reveal a little about some of the adverse experiences endured in the preceding years.
However not all these experiences have been negative and an undeniable
passion and pride in her young son is felt in the intense ballad ‘Black and White’. On the ballad front, ‘Howlin’ Bones’ is a haunting effort with
a tremendous opening and once again demonstrating an agreeable mix between keys
and guitar. There are guest appearances from Dylan Le Blanc on a couple of
songs including the title track ‘Razor
Wire’ and the evocative ‘Lie Like You
Love Me’. The latter probably contains the record’s most striking line ‘miss
you like morphine straight to my veins’ which hints at some of the challenges
Hannah has faced.
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Having earlier referred to a resemblance to two other
artists, the Lindi Ortega similarity is apparent on the moody and soulful
number ‘Strand of Pearls’. Holly
Williams springs to mind on the vocal led ‘Razor
Wire’ which, with its country vibes, appears twice on the album with an
acoustic version doubling up as an unlisted addition. On another country note,
Hannah has performed at Nashville’s prestigious Bluebird Café and you can envisage the
thoughtful quiet finale ‘Lonesome’
wooing a listening audience there and its drifting sound is a great relaxing way to
sign off the album.
Whilst on first listen there were several other leading
candidates for the outstanding track, the piano led mellow number ‘Parchman’ is an evolving grower and
after many plays became the somewhat unlikely pick of the slower songs. However
the true strength of the album is that there are numerous options for a standout
track to match your mood.
RAZOR WIRE has been described as ‘Dark Americana’ and
while not wanting to plagiarise the phrase, it is very close to the mark. Ultimately
Hannah Aldridge has produced an excellent debut record to announce her arrival
big time on the Americana scene. UK fans get an early opportunity to enjoy the
record live in June and hopefully this can be the start of a fruitful alliance
between Hannah and the burgeoning scene this side of the Atlantic.