Dave Hanson

When Bluebird Reviews heard for the first time Blind Faith, the EP released by the British singer/songwriter Dave Hanson later last year, we had the clear feeling that the forthcoming full-length debut album of Hanson might have been an extraordinary one.

Almost Horizontal is an album that tells a lot about the talent and the potential of the young and talented artist from Leeds. It's a record that allows Hanson to explore music genres very close to the heart of the English artist but executed in a way that makes Hanson's sound to be always distinctly recognisable.

Joanna, the album's opener, it's a clearly winning track. Catchy and upbeat, Joanna is a flawless tune, with excellently balanced bridges and choruses throughout a song that deserves to be blasted on any radios worldwide.

There are some true moments of brilliancy in Almost Horizontal. Hanson showcases not just his great ability as a guitarist but also a very inspired songwriting style, with lyrics that may carry, at times, profound thoughts as in songs like Devil or elements of humour, as in the funny Por Favor Senor.

Musically, the album is truly impeccable. Dave Hanson, through the support also of a large group of highly skilled studio musicians, balances cleverly through the whole record rootsy atmospheres with touches here and there of reggae, glam, rumba, R&B and 90's British rock, making Almost Horizontal feeling like a relaxing walk in a park on a sunny day.

The closing track, Make Hay, is a delicate, acoustic tune, in which the slide guitar of Martin Harley, one of the many excellent musicians present on this record, fly in the air as light as a feather.

The artistic promises arising from Hanson's EP Blind Faith have been fully accomplished in Almost Horizontal. A splendid debut album by one of the most clever and talented contemporary Troubadour with a brilliant future ahead of him.

 

 

Giovanni "Gio" Pilato

Almost Horizontal is out now and available via Six String Social Records

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