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SOUND ON THE BROW Paddy Hanna is like an elder in
die statesman of the scene here. On his third album he deals with issues and struggles whilst breathing in the West Cork air. He tells us about the making of The Hill, the power of bad reviews and has a little gloat over Joss Stone. words Zara Hedderman photo: Daniel Martin “I like The Toucher Doyle story,” Paddy Hanna reveals when asked his favourite Dublin fact. “There’s a painting called A Bird Never Flew on One Wing hanging in some city-centre pub of two men drinking together, one of them being ‘Toucher’ Doyle. He was a well-known character that got his name after he asked the King of England, who was in The Curragh at the time, if he could touch him in exchange of a pound. Anyways, Doyle was famous for having a distinct pudding bowl haircut and pointy ears. Apparently, someone affiliated with Star Trek was having a pint in Dublin, saw the painting on the wall and thought, ‘Hey, this guy’s got a striking image!’ and based the image of Mr. Spock and the Vulcans on this Dublin character.” This is just one of many digressions the Dublin-based songwriter makes during our time talking about his tremendous third album, The Hill, due this month. In between talking about Hanna’s songwriting approach (“I don’t like to make many changes or rewrite songs. You need to leave some of the accidents in there. They’re the bits at the side of the pot when you’re making gravy; it’s where all the flavour is.”) we covered a range of topics from the perfect pop song (ABBA’s Dancing Queen), taking driving lessons from Thin Lizzy’s former tour manager and his experience meeting Burt Bacharach last summer (“He’s just the coolest dude, ever!”). Hanna’s aptitude for storytelling is next to none, but that’s no surprise given his deft lyricism. Without warning, he morphs into a variety of characters, each taking you on an unexpected adventure. The Hill is no exception. Across 11 songs, the listener is brought to remote sites in Ireland’s southern coastal region where water flows freely in one direction, a woman named Mrs Cotter peels oranges with a butcher’s knife and a chord organ tells a cryptic tale of Frank Sinatra. Sonically, The Hill swaps lush string arrangements for layered vocal harmonies and plenty of Italian motifs, creating a sound – and overall mood – completely unique to his discography. There were a number of reasons, practical and preferential, for mixing things up by making this a vocalheavy affair. “I can’t write music, so when I was working on Bad Boys, I got Éna Brennan to come to the studio with sheet music ready to scribe as I hummed the melody. It wasn’t the most professional thing you’d ever see,” he laughs. “This time around, I thought, ‘Why don’t we just do it the way we record demos and add synthesiser. It was born out of necessity, initially. We had a week to do it in isolation, which I’m sure is a word everyone is sick of now, so it was easy for me to just get in-front of a microphone and sing. There’s also something very Italian and cinematic in how the vocals sound from the way we recorded it which is what I was leaning towards.” In building the cinematic world of The Hill, Hanna continued his fruitful collaboration with Girl Band bassist and producer Dan Fox, who previously worked on the songwriter’s second LP, 2018’s Frankly, I Mutate. The pair met in typical fashion for most Dublin-based musicians; on a rainy night in the smoking area of Whelan’s. It would take 12 months after their meet cute before the pair discussed working together. “We started talking about music and it was the classic case of one pint turned into eight!” Hanna remembers, amused by the encounter. “It was a perfect mix because I wanted to do something ambitious and he wanted to take on a project where he could do all the sound stuff and play in the sandbox with as much sand as possible. It was a perfect storm. Up till that point, he was mostly working on studio tech work. So this was his first chance to go out on his own and try some stuff.” When questioned about the extent of Fox’s impact and influence on Hanna’s songs, coupled with the nature of their working relationship, Hanna’s response reminds me of the aforementioned ‘Toucher’ Doyle artwork and the reality of a bird needing two wings to take flight. “I’m always nervous to talk to someone about anything musically in case they say, ‘That’s a stupid idea!’ But he’s the opposite. He’ll take an idea and throw something opposite back at you that’s even weirder. He likes to be challenged and I don’t like to be told that I’m wrong so it works really well,” laughs Hanna. He continues, “He really leans into the madness. In that way, Fox is the only person I think I’ll ever 54