Welcome to Hana Bryanne’s Country Era
Photo by Fiona PestanaBack in November, singer-songwriter Hana Bryanne shared with Pleaser that she had a country project burning a hole in her pocket, just waiting to be shared. Now, the time has come: queue up her latest single “Jesus Or Harrison Ford.”
The new track carries Bryanne’s trademark feathery voice, and comes straight out the gates with its title: “My new baby is a carpenter / just like Jesus, or Harrison Ford.” It sets an American-as-it-comes scene, her beau either the idol of her affection or a humbled version of someone great. However, he pales in comparison to the lover who came before.
What’s different about this relationship, as our narrator contemplates her lover while “playing songs about bein’ yours,” isn’t the closeness or the permission to be as she is, “It’s the fuckin’, and the silence, and the storm.” Maybe it’s that it lacks the latter — as the single’s cover depicts Bryanne crossing her fingers behind her back, signaling a secret we as listeners are privy to.
As the country acoustic amps up and the drum track comes full in, it layers in the energy Bryanne brought on tracks like “Susannah at the Wedding” from her first album Dollface. And much like then, it’s clear Bryanne is telling her story through a character — one who’s coming into her own while still hoping to prove something to a past lover. She lilts, “You should see it, honey boy / when I’m putting on a show.”
But a show it is — she admits, “I’ll be playing those four chords / Until all the stars align / To bring you knocking, unashamed, at my door.” Bryanne’s brutal honesty, with not only the listener and the recipient of the lyrics, but herself too, makes this song so much more than a country love ballad.
In addition to her captivating, visual lyrics, Bryanne’s star quality is her vocal range. She slides between an alto command and a delicate upper register that leads the listener to each emotional change in the song. And to add to this, her rhyme scheme is woven subtly between half lines like an oral hand-me-down tale, giving it that true narrative flow.
The storyline of Bryanne’s next project (as she’s told Pleaser she’s not a single here and there kind of gal) is already coming through. Just as she ends fan-favorite “Lake Michigan” with dreams juxtaposing a less-than-sweet reality, she concludes this story with, “While he passes ‘round the basket / In my dreams / In my dreams, I’m still yours.”
Oh, and how could I forget — what would an Americana track be without a Springsteen reference? (“Killin’ time and gettin’ high and playin’ Springsteen / at the show.”) Suffice to say I can’t wait for more.
