Matt
Hannah – Dreamland
Dreamland
is a ten song album from Minneapolis headquartered singer/songwriter Matt
Hannah. This second album from Hannah, following up his 2014 release Let the
Lonely Fade, should raise Hannah to a place of preeminence among his
contemporaries. The album doesn’t aim to be merely some memorable hodgepodge of
different songs but, instead, is threaded together by a loose concept that
seems almost novelistic in intent. The production presents all of Hannah’s
songs in excellent fidelity and captures significant details that a less
professional job would have missed while the album’s running order seems
perfectly arranged. Hannah has really went the extra mile here; Dreamland more
than reaffirms the talents on display during his debut, but takes a step
further towards something with the potential to endure posterity’s judgment.
He
opens it up with a strong title track. Hannah’s acoustic guitar work is one of
the album’s consistent strengths and the basis of all his songwriting, but the
title track is one of its best illustrations. It’s joined at critical junctures
by wonderfully atmospheric pedal steel guitar playing that perfectly
complements Hannah’s playing. “Broken Hearts & Broken Bones” kicks off with
some hard-edged, clipped acoustic guitar before the full band comes in. It
never gets too heavy handed, but the song has a nice stomp to it and swings
like a mother. “Dandelion” is much more of a solo performance than the
preceding songs, but Hannah is a more than capable musician who can pick up a
tune single-handedly and carry it to its completion. It’s his best character
portrait on the album and the lyrics are full of delicately rendered details
that will engage listener’s imaginations. “Banks of the Mississippi” has some
electric guitar making low-key contributions near the end, but much of the song
is dominated by Hannah’s acoustic guitar.
The
guitar means a lot to the song “Set Free”. The lyrical content is quite
exceptional and Hannah really makes it go thanks to his energetic, but
tempered, delivery, but it’s the instrumental break and resulting guitar solo
that really seals the deal for this song. “The Night is My Home” has minimal
accompaniment from other instruments except for a very light of touch of
keyboards in the background. The center of the performance is Hannah’s voice
and guitar playing. It has a tender touch that makes the most of the song’s
melody without ever making things too precious. “Different Kind of Light” is a
song with intelligent lyrics and a dynamic arrangement gradually scaling upwards
in terms of musical intensity. These are the sort of dramatic shifts we usually
associate with rock songs; Hannah makes excellent use of these turns to enhance
what might have otherwise been a more delicate track. The final blast of blues
on Dreamland comes with the steel guitar opening of “Gone”. This is, in some
ways, the album’s most commercial track and has a strong musical and lyrical
hook to draw listeners in. Dreamland is one of the young year’s best releases
and transcends musical labels.
9
out of 10 stars
Charles
Hatton
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