Hannah Acfield ~ No Light Without Shade: A Music Review

I can recall one instance in my life when I heard a song on the car radio, and I had to pull off the road to listen to it properly and called the radio station to find out who was singing that song. (It was G.C. in case you are wondering-you will have to work out who that is!)

I now find myself in the embarrassing situation of having come across an artist I had never heard of before, even though she has released some great songs previously.

The next hard bit was that as I sat down to review this album, I found it extremely hard to go past the first track; I just kept reverting to it as soon as it had finished. I felt ashamed I had not sought HANNAH ACFIELD out earlier.

The track in question is : Like Lovers Do. The whole mix of this song with its strings, other instrumentation and THAT piano all put together with Hannah’s voice and lyrics should have seen the track hit the charts. What a silly thing to say, as this is an independent artist and how many of those get a fair go these days? Very few.

It is such a beautiful song and Hannah’s vocal projection exceeds that of many chart toppers and when THAT piano comes in it adds that little bit of retro that cannot be emulated by others. Follow the lyrics through and pay especial attention to them when THAT piano comes in and she sings: ‘Friends don’t touch like lovers do…….’ Absolutely brilliant.

See what I mean about my difficulty in getting past this opening track!

Moving on, with great difficulty, to: ‘Never Let You Go’ is a fine piece of white soul and Hannah’s ability to change from one genre to another is outstanding. This is one of those songs that many a soul artist could reinterpret meaning that Hannah is not only a great vocalist but a fantastic wordsmith, musician and lyricist too.

WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE NOTICE THIS ARTIST?

There is not a single ‘filler’ on this album and that is an achievement in itself.

If it’s a touch of the late 80s you are after, with some incredible bass playing (ok, I’m biased as I am a bass freak) go no further than ‘ON MY OWN – Thief in the night). It is so hard, with Hannah, to believe this is the same singer rather than a collections album of different vocalists.

How can one believe that Hannah so effortlessly, well apparently so, is able to sing of life as it really is with words of wisdom, beauty and hurt all on the one album? Many a singer would love to grab hold of Hannah’s material and make it their own, but it would not work. These lyrics, this music belong to Hannah and she has given us the ability to share them with her and listen and think back and forwards to times good, bad, beautiful and indifferent. I have never come across an artist who could do this.

Hopefully, you will have noticed, that I have made no reference to any other artist who might have been an inspiration for Hannah as this is a personal album, almost diary like in its formation.

More I shall not write, as it is up to you to purchase ‘No Light Without Shade’ and I do not want to give more away about the content of this album.

Mention should, of course, be made to all those who made this project possible; the engineers/producers, back up musicians and everyone else involved in the creation of this masterpiece.​

Tony Bates

www.3MDR.com

https://www.facebook.com/uncutandunsigned