Based out of Cumbria, Hannah Rose Kessler first emerged in 2017 with the grunge-folk sounds of Not Your Little Girl, quickly followed by 2018’s hedonistic about-turn, Invincible, Beautiful Dangerous. These two very different sounding records were an intriguing introduction, and one that makes Hannah an artist who is very hard to pin down. Now signed to the Derby-based label Reckless Yes Records, Hannah today makes her latest musical statement in the shape of her new single, Come Feel Me.

Come Feel Me is a track that finds Hannah returning to one of her major influences, PJ Harvey, with the yelped vocal style and jagged guitars, yet beneath that there’s still a magpie like approach to genre-hopping. Industrial-tinged bass is reminiscent of mid-noughties indie-heroes The Faint, and there’s a danceable quality courtesy of the almost slow-motion cowbell-led percussion. The whole thing is a potent blend of ideas, crafted into a sound entirely Hannah’s own.

Discussing the track, Hannah suggests it comes from being, “stuck in a very liminal period of my life”. The track seems to tap into themes of loneliness and a longing for connection that’s a common thread of many groups of unhappy people. It’s mirrored not just in the lyrics but the music too, as Hannah explains, “I tried to bring out a sense of fatigue and anxiety with the beat and the oppressive bass, to contrast with the gentle vocal delivery“. The track seems to reach a climax as out of nowhere it collapses into a howl of release, “when the drop comes, that’s the break in tension, during which life appears to briefly make sense“. Unlike many tracks where the resolution is the end, here Hannah allows the track to drift back to where it came from, as she repeats the line, “I’m lonely, so lonely” as she further explains, “it’s back to the same old feeling, only you’re not sure whether you mean the words you say or if you’re just saying them out of habit”. This is an intriguing moment for Hannah Rose Kessler, an artist who seems to have found a new sense of direction: on this evidence her upcoming EP might just be one of the year’s most intriguing releases.

Come Feel Me is out February 12th via Reckless Yes Records. Click HERE for more information on Hannah Rose Kessler.