EP Review – Fallow Days by The Hannah Barberas (2020) (Self released)
The precipitous rise of South East London’s jangliest indie-pop collective, The Hannah Barberas, culminated in the widespread critical acclaim afforded to April 2020’s Into The Wild album, which received love upon love from all those that mattered in the micro-blog and Bandcamp worlds.
Although this group of four close friends are often prolific in their output, such is their love of simply making indie-noise together, it is probably fair to suggest that this EP would not have materialized so quickly if it were not due to the introduction of the face-hanky world we now reside in.
Thankfully, Fallow Days is not at all self indulgent and ‘woe is me’ sad (even the COVID inspired WY.E. bristles along with the pace of morbid musical enthusiasm) like much lockdown music and The Hannah Barberas seemed to have used the extra time instructed by the Government to ward off big boy flu, to express their love of more stripped down sounds.
As such, in Slow Cooked Boy, we see an alternative version of fans favourite Slow Cooked, drizzled through acoustic guitars and male vocals. It’s is not as delicate as much of what has gone before, but it has an essence of cool that goes beyond their usual indie-pop sweet.
Similarly, the deferral from any sense of norm is conveyed in the elongated, chunky riffs of a W.Y.E. that feel all Pavement / The Minutemen like in it’s sparsity. Other different nuances can be found in Every Beat of The Heart, which slowly reveals lusicious 60’s jangly melodies in the form of the slightest of Americana / Country inflections. This track ALSO somehow compliments the sense of era also heard in the Brit invasion sound of Out In The Open.
In essence, it feels like THB’s have tried the ‘new old things’ that they have loved for many years on this EP and whilst many of us would cry a tear if they felt the need to re-invent a different route for themselves, this release does show that they have plenty of viable b-roads to travel along on their indie-pop journey.
All proceeds from the sale of this album go to Lewisham Food Bank charity that lead singer Lucy works for and absolutely any donation for this wonderful EP would be most welcome.
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