Hannah White continues her 12 singles in a year project with possibly the most stark yet in "Don't Despair", and in releasing it she reveals that it's the title of a song that we had always thought was called "Not The One I Love!" a staple part of Hannah's live set. It is a least 5 songs in one, with Hannah not uttering a word until forty seven seconds in.
The opening twenty seconds or so are a pair of dreamy guitars one electric, one acoustic, It has a late 60's feel and is probably best enjoyed at night surrounded by lava lamps!
It makes way for the next sound of the single, a tribal humming over Michele Stodart's bass guitar, slow pounding drum beats play out - it all makes for the most intriguing of openings and then Hannah enters the fray for real.
Her vocals echo the harshness of the words - this is a relationship is terminal decline, there's no returning from this, it's an open declaration that she'd rather be with someone else - and if that wasn't the final nail on the coffin, the closing line "With the one I love" permanently shuts the lid.
"Oh baby don’t despair, don’t despair, don’t despair
I’ll soon be out of your hair; and with the one I love
With the one I love
Oh baby I despise, I despise that look in your eyes
There'll be no more lies when I’m with the the one I love
With the one I love"
The chorus such as it is, is only a slight deviation from the verses, however Hannah's vocals convey more than their fair share of emotion - especially when it soars on the words "back upon"
"I’m leaving, I’ll be gone
And I won’t look back upon
Your angry eyes that see all the bad there is in me
One day I’ll be free and with the one I love
With the one I love"
The final verse is played out with Hannah singing against a dub style echoing guitar,. the industrial sounding drum and bass also make their presence felt.
"Oh baby you’ll regret
The day you let your temper get
The better of you, you can bet
You’re not the one I love
Not the one I love"
The lyrics need little analysis - it is all on the page in black and white - they speak for themselves.
With a string of Festival dates upcoming and dates across the country in November, there has never been a better time to capture an artist on the absolute top of their game.
Hannah White Tour Dates