KING HANNAH / Großbritannien

In the organizer's words:

On their first tour of the United States, King Hannah could hardly believe where their debut album had taken them. The indie rock duo from Liverpool, consisting of Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, found themselves in the middle of the southwestern deserts of New Mexico, among other places they had only seen in movies and television. Their stubborn determination and sheer grit to swim toward their carefully planned vision had put them headfirst into a scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Badlands, or any of the numerous crime documentaries they watched off tour. Being in a new place opened their eyes to everyday events they might have ignored in Liverpool, and from a new perspective. Much of the band's second album, Big Swimmer, reflects stories from their travels as the duo shared the stage with Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore and festivals across Europe and North America. In America in particular, Merrick and Whittle saw through the window of their tour van as if through a canvas, allowing inspiration for their stories to flood in.

"Because when you visit another country, it's more like witnessing someone's life," Merrick comments on the band's experiences on tour in the States. In it, a balance of lightness and darkness merged as the band experienced everyday joys, horrors and mundanities - all against the backdrop of their dreams of performing their songs around the world coming true. This balance is crucial for Hannah and Craig, especially as they approach each release as an individual project, writing songs together from the ground up. This can be heard in equal parts on their first EP 'Tell Me Your Mind And I'll Tell You Mine' and their debut album 'I'm Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me', released in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The band's Stereogum Band To Watch feature takes note of this dichotomy, saying that I'm Not Sorry "creates levity from its gloom through Merrick's humor, which adds funny stabs to somber themes." Blistering guitars heat up Merrick's smoky and sinewy storytelling.

Coincidentally, the title track and album opener "Big Swimmer" was the last song written before they went off the road and into the studio to record their next album, and is physical proof of the album's ultimate metaphor, like a punch in the gut: that if you throw in the towel, you'll get nowhere. "Big Swimmer" is one of two songs on the album to feature vocals from indie legend Sharon Van Etten, who the band got in touch with when Van Etten posted about their debut single "Crème Brûlée." Van Etten's voice interweaves effortlessly with Merrick's, spinning like two tributaries running parallel to each other. Having an esteemed heroine offer her support and co-sign for this up-and-coming band's music really moved the duo, especially having her featured on a song that epitomizes the balance achieved in the pursuit of creative vision.

To capture the energy of their debut touring live shows, Merrick and Whittle turned to producer and engineer Ali Chant (Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius). The producer's one-room studio, with guitar amps stacked even in the bathroom, felt like home. It was essential to record the songs live at the same time. Whittle raves about the microphone bleed and says the goal was to create the feeling of everyone playing together in one room. In that room, they blended the richness and heart of the '70s with the seething noise of the '90s.

Big Swimmer finds King Hannah on the other side of their first performance with a newfound understanding of their sound, their strengths, their gratitude and their vision for the future of the band's music. That understanding has undoubtedly led to the deep confidence heard in their new songs - Merrick's voice soars, Whittle's guitar glows - and the balance they've found while traversing the waters of the Atlantic, or at least the rock venues on both sides of it. The album will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, between the sometimes tingling and often heartening images of its narrative. It's very likely that listening to it will make you dream of a lake in summer and want to jump in.

Presented by ByteFM

Price information:

VVK: 25 € + service and VVK fee / AK: 30 € / standing room