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And The Kids vocalist & songwriter Hannah Mohan’s Time is a Walnut, her first solo album, is excellent fun. It is a heady mixture of sounds, from indie post-punk to soaring, brass-driven orchestrations, handclaps, and winsome singing.
Time is a Walnut, not unlike her previous work with And The Kids, foregrounds the demo-as-artform as she goes boldly in search of that hard-to-define, unpolished sweet spot. She’s not a million miles away from a younger PJ Harvey, Florist at their grittiest, even Daniel Johnson (whose brave songs were too pure for this world). But she’s also very much herself.
These songs are deceptively simple. Crucially, the album contains just the right amount of scruff. This owes a lot to its subtle production. Sessions with producer Alex Toth of Rubblebucket were understandably gruelling: “We worked so hard that week that I don’t think he slept the whole time […] it was a lot. When he left we cried, because when we finally stopped, there was so much emotion.”
Her wonderful title track single sounds like a gorgeous, reverby Beach Boys cover. The music video is unsurprisingly down-to-earth, all lockdown-chic. In the video, she holds a walnut and crushes it in her palm making it come across as very postmodern and ironic.
Therapist shifts unexpectedly from demo-mode into something more substantial and relatable – one that we could sing along to at a festival. Hell, which features Lady Lamb, blends anthemic brass, handclaps, and soaring vocals. This song suddenly springs into life and, by the end, sounds lighter, more commercial than before.
Her soundscape is part of an ongoing rebuild, a way to start again in the wake of heartbreak. And Mohan is a huge fan of building things: weaving new textures, borrowing half an idea here, mixing it with a riff from there. Upside Down opens with a singular accordion, then combines reverby honky tonk piano with textured, unexpected melodies and operatic, balladlike singalongs. It’s all quite edgy or surprising without going overboard.
Happy or Sad sounds as though she just picked up her guitar and started playing. The song cleverly suspends between mood-states, as though open to the elements, to outer forces. At times, she mimics the compression from a camera phone or even GarageBand (you can almost hear the spacebar at the end).
Time is a Walnut conjures its own unique spell – one full of idiosyncratic turns and quirky melodies. What stays long after listening is her innovative, off-the-cuff orchestration and her myriad ways of exploring the here and now.
Order via Bandcamp: https://therealhannahmohan.bandcamp.com/album/time-is-a-walnut
Time is a Walnut (12th July 2024) Egg Hunt Records.
