"Sweet Stranger" by Hannah Woof

Over the years (at least seven as far as I can calculate), a pattern has coalesced regarding my Hannah Woof reviews: long gaps finally resolved with moments of enthusiastic reception of new material. I see it's been  two years since my most recent article on a release: her ‘Heartbreak Hotel' EP.

From her perspective, this probably offers certain benefits: one is that it keeps the value of her talent up in the relative rarity level and her audience all the more grateful for what we receive when the drought is broken. The other of course is quality control: Hannah is nothing if not a perfectionist and her songs are all the more honed by the time she spends on them.

So here we go with "Sweet Stranger"  which comes out on September 24^th but will be BBC Introducing Track of the Week for the preceding week so you'll hear it there first.

Generally speaking, one of the great joys of a Hannah Woof song is her inability to suffer fools gladly coming out even in songs which at first glance seem to be love songs. Like roses, her tracks offer beauty and then when you grasp them, you notice the barbs.

This one however is significantly different in as much as the subject hasn't behaved badly (quite the reverse) and so doesn't deserve the full blast of the Hannah wit turned on them. But it's Hannah regardless so there is plenty of wit in there still and a few sharper lyrical edges: some turned ruefully in on herself.

The first instance is in fact in the very title: if you think "stranger" means someone little known to Hannah, think again. It's her verbal dexterity expressing unwanted distance between herself & a close friend: her closest in fact. Yes we have the use of irony here proving that at least one writer still uses this otherwise declining tool. And trusts her audience to understand it.

Much as I have praised Hannah's considerable skills as a lyricist over those years, I haven't ever specifically mentioned her great ability to conclude a song: indeed not only is it a particular strength of hers, but I can't readily think of anyone who does it quite as well. She'd make a great writer of short stories. Sometimes it makes your jaw drop (think of the ending of "Rendezvous") and here she leaves us with the unique couplet of

"And every time you caught me skipping a meal

You would bake a cake with honesty and give me the space to heal"

Have you heard its like before? I know that I have not.

And yet I've only touched upon the first half of the power of Hannah Woof. The potency of her excellent songs comes from both their composition & from their delivery. I still maintain that however much you enjoy her live in any setting, you receive an especial frisson when in an intimate space (given her ambition of Wembley, I'm glad I've already had that pleasure before large venues become her norm). This is I'm sure something she has self awareness of given how her songs are arranged & produced.

Though she has made many successful experiments with fuller instrumentation, Hannah tends to keep it simple with the song & her performance at the heart of what you hear. It also then helps that what you get live is close to what you hear on record.

With production and mixing  by Jordan Round (mastering by Riley Knapp), "Sweet Stranger"  is one of her emotionally direct songs with as much bullshit in the sound as there is in the lyrics (though that holds true for her entire body of work). In her own words "we kept it simple. I didn't feel like the song needed anything other than its honesty." How right she was.

What is rather special though is her decision to take a "warts and all" approach from the subject right down as far as the final production: few artists have this confidence but Hannah does & is happy to justify the choice conceptually. Slightly less than wholly synched guitar parts (I had to listen for them) are rationalised thus: "I think that's a good thing. The topic and situation isn't perfect so the songs final state shouldn't be either." This level of honesty is frankly admirable: I'd happily have accepted this aspect as a deliberate strategy to texture the sound.

What you hear therefore is pure, unadorned and heartfelt: aimed at "someone who deserves something more than 'I miss you'", I am sure the subject will be deeply moved by the song. I bet all of us had friends who'd write songs like this about & to us.

Let's hope too that it'll not be too long before her next release.