I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me—the new, debut full-length album from the Liverpool, U.K.-based duo King Hannah, available this February via City Slang—feels like relaxedly settling into a quiet, late-night bar scene to take in the sounds of a band that you’ve known for a while. There’s a nearly instant sense of warm familiarity that pervades the band’s music, which runs on the power of swaggering rock while presenting an expansive, lush atmosphere in which to immerse.
It’s often fairly mellow, yet the songs remain pointed, building up to the remarkably triumphant ending of album closer, “It’s Me and You, Kid,” with flowing rhythms that feel like a sonic expression of falling into life’s waiting arms. Elsewhere on the album, the rock ‘n’ roll side of the palette with which King Hannah perform gets excitingly intense, like a controlled burn put to music.
Ultimately, the journey centers on the free-flowing, personal expression that defines the music of King Hannah, which is richly textured and pulsing with sweltering energy even while drawing you in. As the formidable songs grow, the tensions of uncertainty feel shut out, at least for a time. Instead, King Hannah venture through what sounds like musical photography, somehow stepping into memories both near and far that with the benefit of the musically provided moment of peace have themselves become awash with fortifying vivacity.
It’s not solely shoegaze, even if such a thing seems suggested by the enveloping tones of the band’s music. Rather, King Hannah have pared the invigorating rock experience down to something quieter but remarkably powerful. Self-confidence is there, but there’s also an amplified sense of self-interest, as the music swirls in on itself and reveals glimmering musical beauty with the certitude of a grassy field like that depicted on the cover art.
At times, it’s quite catchy, like on the somewhat straightforwardly driving “All Being Fine,” which the duo released as a single. Repeatedly, King Hannah utilize build-ups into more intense territory, delivering invigorating jolts—and throughout these ventures, the smoothness of the album can hardly be overstated, like laying back and watching the clouds entrancingly float by on a warm summer day.
Below, check out what the duo’s Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle have been thinking about as their new album was geared up for release, from the pleasantries of being on tour to working with deadlines and the music of Bill Callahan.
To start out on a broad note, how does it feel to have your debut, full-length album now ready to share with the world?
Whittle: It’s quite nerve-wracking to finish something, and then that be it. I think that we always know and think that we can do better, don’t we? And we always want to push ourselves. So, we’re just excited now to go on to the next thing. I think we’re always thinking ahead. But obviously, we’re really excited for it to be out for people to hear it.
Merrick: Everything’s so fast-paced, we always find—like, Craig and I have not actually sat down and spoken about it. We never sit and go, ‘Oh, that I don’t know.’ We just don’t, do we? Not really. So, it will be nice to see how people react to it, and what people’s favorite songs are, and how well it does—or it doesn’t. Hopefully it does.
So, as for the music itself, there’s an apparent strong personal connection—it feels very drawn from your lives, both in the lyrical themes and in the accessible sound itself. How would you describe the emotional grounding of the album? Would that be the right track?
Merrick: It’s really good that that comes across, because Craig and I—you can hear both of us on all the tracks. There’s so much passion and honesty in it, isn’t there?
Whittle: The music we make is very personal. Because the music we love listening to is very personal, and it’s nice to know that our personalities and stuff come across, or hopefully they do, in it. Musically, we love that sort of nostalgic feel, don’t we? And I think that helps to bring the most out of what Hannah is writing as well, lyric-wise. We want it to sound like we’re in a little room together making this music, that if anyone else was in that room, we wouldn’t be able to make. So, it’s nice that that comes across.
In line with that, would you say that the down-to-earth vibe is something that you intentionally pursued?
Merrick: I think so, because we go for—we just love the stuff to sound real, don’t we? And I think that’s always going to make it sound honest.
Whittle: Yeah, like the more sort of raw the sound is, maybe that translates as sounding down-to-earth. And we are very sort of down-to-earth people, aren’t we?
Merrick: It’s just the music Craig and I love, isn’t it? It’s just what we love listening to, stuff that sounds so, so real. And nothing pretentious.
Whittle: And not, like, produced to within an inch of its life. It’s just natural, giving the songs room to breathe, I think.
Interestingly, the expansiveness of the record also suggests a sort of cinematic element to things. Is there something specific that you’d describe about your thinking surrounding that sort of smoky, broad atmosphere that seems prominent in the music?
Whittle: I mean, I think cinematic is definitely—that’s something that we do try to do, don’t we? We kind of want it to feel like the album’s taking you on a journey, and maybe that’s where the cinematic part comes from. So, it has big moments, and then sort of smaller, tender moments, and it’s about trying to weave between those.
So, in line with that, would you say that your songwriting process is a pretty natural thing, so to speak? Is that your feeling?
Merrick: Yeah, definitely. But also, there’s always deadlines to meet. As lovely as writing in your own time is, and that’s definitely both of our preferred ways to write—you don’t always have that luxury. So sometimes there is a bit more deadline, and you’ve just got to go, go, go, and whatever happens, happens.
Whittle: We try to follow our instincts a lot, don’t we? Especially when it comes to—when you take it to the band meet, and you’re jamming it out. Usually, the first idea you have is the best idea, isn’t it? Usually. So, we try to stick to that as much as we can. Like, wherever your instinct sort of naturally takes you to with a song is usually the best.
Merrick: Also, like, the deadline, so you’ve got to be able to go, go, go—I don’t mean that in a negative way. It’s just a different way of writing. And that’s not to say that you don’t try as hard. It’s the same; it’s just—that’s just the deadline. It’s a good thing though; it makes you a better writer. There’s a thing called “panic writing,” I think. I’ve heard of someone talk about it. And it’s definitely a thing. It’s just a thing. You’re panicking because it’s not a nice thing, but it’s still a part of it.
Whittle: And then even what to do with trying to get them fully mixed before the deadline—suddenly, you’re making decisions really quickly, just because you need to finish something, as opposed to maybe, what is best for the song: they’re not always the same thing. It’s just like, we need to make a decision on this right now. I constantly feel like we’ll learn, and then hopefully, the more things we do, we’ll keep getting better.
On that note, it’s certainly a broad question, but is there a particular area that you’d like to explore in future songs? Is there something that you have in mind?
Whittle: Whatever you’re listening to, at the time, influences the music so much that the things that you’re listening to when you start writing or start making the album are completely different by the time—or have certainly changed by the time you’ve finished an album. So now we’ve maybe gotten into new bands and new sounds, and we’ve heard different things, and now we want to just take that into the next thing. We don’t want to—we never want to sound exactly the same.
Merrick: And we hear that in the artists that we listen to, don’t we? You can hear a growth. We just want to be the best we can, you know: always, always, always, always get better—get better at what we do.
On the note of your affinity for growth in music, are there particular artists that come to mind that feel like inspirational trailblazers for you, no matter whether there’s a one-to-one relationship between those artists and the creative process for your own music?
Whittle: I think a big one for us at the moment is Bill Callahan, isn’t he? Bill Callahan was Smog in the ‘90s. And just talking about growing and the evolution of music and sound from what he started out as, being this sort of experimental, lo-fi, ‘90s band, to then change a little, a bit. So it’s usually artists that are constantly pushing themselves to do something different, and never just sort of being happy with the sound they’re making and living off that. And taking risks.
Merrick: Another great thing about Bill Callahan is that he writes what he wants to write, or at least it comes across that way. None of those songs sound forced, or like he wrote it because he thought he should have to write it because he needs to make the money or something. You know, he’s writing what he loves. And it wins, doesn’t it? Every time.
Now, as for the process of going forward, how has connecting with fans and listeners been for you guys, as the release of your new album approaches?
Merrick: The most connecting we’ve done with anybody is chatting to people on tour. And that was really nice. Because everybody’s just so lovely. It’s always quite a nice little two-way convo.
Whittle: We always want to be sort of approachable and talk to people. Because I mean, you wouldn’t be able to do any of this without people coming to see you, in support. So, we know how important that is. And we know what it’s like to be that person as well and go into shows with people we love. It’s such a commitment to like, buy a ticket and go to a show.
Merrick: I don’t think we had many fans when it was ultra, ultra-COVID. When it first hit, we didn’t really have many fans. So, it was hard to connect I think, but now I think maybe we’re a bit better. If anybody gets in touch with us on, like, social media, or Bandcamp, or wherever, we always make a big fat effort to reply and have a little convo. Because whenever we’ve done that, and the artists have written back, we really appreciate it. And we want to. It doesn’t feel like effort.
Watch the video for “All Being Fine” here:
For more from King Hannah, find them Facebook, Instagram, and Bandcamp.
Photo courtesy of King Hannah and Katie Silvester
