King Hannah

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 Liverpool indie rock duo, consisting of Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, found themselves in the middle of the southwestern desert of New Mexico and other places they had only seen in movies and television. Their stubborn determination and sheer courage to swim toward their carefully planned vision had catapulted them headfirst into a scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Badlands, or any of a number of true-crime documentaries. Being in a new place opened their eyes to everyday events that they might have ignored had they happened in Liverpool. Much of the band's second album, Big Swimmer, reflects the stories of their travels as the duo shared the stage with Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore and played festivals across Europe and North America. In America in particular, Merrick and Whittle used the window of their tour bus as a kind of projection screen through which to draw inspiration for their storytelling. "Because when you visit another country, it's like you're witnessing someone's life," Merrick comments on the band's experiences on the tour through the USA. In it, lightness and darkness are fused together, as are horror and the mundane - all against the backdrop of the dream of performing their songs all over the world.
the world. This balance is very important to Hannah and Craig, especially as they approach each release as an individual project, writing their songs from scratch. 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 To Watch" feature on Stereoem references this dichotomy, saying that I'm Not Sorry is "fueled by the humor of Merri, who can bring a funny edge to dark subjects." The sharp guitar brings heat over Merrick's smoky and sinewy narration.

The title track and album opener "Big Swimmer" happened to be the last song written before they went off the road and into the studio to record the follow-up.
The album's ultimate metaphor feels like a punch in the gut: you don't get anywhere by throwing in the towel. To capture the energy of the live shows from their debut tours, 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. Recording the songs live immediately was essential. Whittle raves about the miking and says the goal was to convey the feeling that everyone was playing together in one room. In this room they mixed
the richness and heart of the 70s with the seething noise of the 90s.

On Big Swimmer, King finds Hannah with a newfound understanding of their sound, their strengths, their gratitude and their vision for the future of the band. That understanding has undoubtedly led to the deep confidence heard in the new songs - Merrick's voice soaring, Whittle's guitar blazing - and the balance they've found while crossing the waters of the Atlantic, or at least the rock venues on either side of it. The
album makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, between the sometimes prickly and often heartening images of his narratives. It's very likely that you'll find yourself daydreaming about a lake in summer and wanting to jump straight in.

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