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Lynne Hanson’s music often feels like a warm embrace, comfortable, easy, and the perfect soundtrack to our days and feelings. Sometimes gritty and dusty and melancholy, sometimes gentle and dreamy, sometimes rocking and emotional, her songs run the gamut of Americana flavors. Every release becomes a new favorite immediately.
Vents Magazine sat down with Hanson to talk about her new single, “Hold My Breath” (out now), and we took a deep dive into the song, its inspiration, and the gorgeous video that accompanies it. We chatted about the challenges of pandemic songwriting and recording, the importance of living in the moment and the connections we form with others, and her musical influences.
Hi Lynne, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
Hey, thanks for asking! It’s been strange times for sure, and this is definitely the longest I’ve been at home since I can remember. I’ve been using the time to get set up to record at home, and in January I finally started writing songs again. More recently, I’ve been working on pre-production for a new album, and co-writing over Zoom with a number of different songwriters.
Your new single, “Hold My Breath,” is really special and caught my attention right away. It’s a great listen. Can you talk to us more about this song? How did you come to write and record it? What was the inspiration behind it?
I had pretty intense writer’s block for most of 2020, and I didn’t write anything between March and December. Then, in January of this year, my pal Blair Michael Hogan started sending me instrumental guitar pieces he’d been composing. We were in a full-on stay-at-home lockdown in Ottawa, so there was no way to get together in-person. So “Hold My Breath” started out as a songwriting co-writing experiment where I rearranged the original song, and then wrote the lyrics and melody. The actual lyrics were really inspired by me missing the connection of getting to see people and travel. I didn’t want it to be a pandemic song specifically, but I think there are definitely some images that reflect me missing people. The one thing I didn’t feel comfortable recording ourselves was drums, so we had Phil Shaw Bova lay those down, and then we recorded the rest of the parts ourselves at my home studio. Phil is also a Grammy-nominated engineer, so we had him mix and master the song when we were ready.
The video for the song is really cool – the home movies give it a personal feel. Are those your home movies, and whose idea was the video concept? What do you love about the final clip?
Both myself and director Tyler Williams had the idea of some kind of family vacation reminiscing as the base concept for the video. It was a huge stroke of luck that about a week before I approached him, he’d been given a box of old 8mm reels along with a working projector from an aunt, I believe. We didn’t even know what was on the film when we shot the video, but the titles suggested vacation and traveling so we both felt they would fit the vibe of the song. The little girl with the red sweater plays such an important role in the video, and her joy in the final clip and then cutting back to the projector as it’s turned off and being dragged back to reality really evokes an emotional response for me.
How was the recording and writing process for that song?
This was the first song I’ve ever attempted to record at home. All of my albums to this point in my career have been recorded by someone else, so this was a brand new experience for me. And just a little bit terrifying. It really was a “close your eyes and jump and hope you land it” kind of feeling. It was also a very different way for me to write. To that point, I hadn’t done a ton of what would be considered “top lining,” as I’ve pretty much always written with a guitar in my hands, even if it’s a co-write. I have to say, I really enjoy the process, as I feel melody and lyric development is the part of songwriting that I enjoy the most.
Your lyrics are top-notch, and you are a real wordsmith. Do you have a favorite lyric line or two in this song? What about those words really works for you or speaks to you?
I think my favorite lines are probably:
If I had only known
We were saying goodbye
I’d have held on to you a little longer
It was a crazy time as we cut our European tour mid-way and rushed home in mid-March 2020 just as the International border to Canada closed, and we never really had a chance to say a proper goodbye to anyone. On the plane ride home, I wrote those lines into my phone. For me, the idea of living in the moment, of feeling gratitude for connection and not taking it for granted, are really summed up in those particular lines of the song.
What do you hope listeners get from hearing the song?
I hope listeners can relate to the message in the song, and that it makes them smile. It’s one of the reasons I love the girl in the red sweater in the video. The way she dances around as though no one is watching, the simple joys of a snowball fight with people you love. It really puts things in perspective I think, which, oddly enough, the process of writing this song did for me at some level.
Your sound mixes up Americana, a hint of country, folk, roots rock, and tops it off with a modern sensibility, so the music sounds classic and but also really fresh at the same time. Some of it’s gritty, some of it’s really dreamy, some is bittersweet or even melancholy. How did you settle upon the “Lynne Hanson” sound? And how would you describe your sound, using one sentence?
I refer to my music as “porch music with a little red dirt.” I think I’ve really been influenced by all of the music I’ve listened to at this point, and I like to incorporate little bits and pieces of those influences in the production of my songs. I also think watching a LOT of YouTube videos on how to record probably had an impact on some of the production decisions we made with this particular song as we were learning how to record at home.
When you are able to head back out on the road, what song are you most looking forward to playing live and why?
Usually my favorite song to play is the last one I wrote, but I think once we’re able to get back to touring I’m looking forward to playing “Hold My Breath” as a way of expressing to audiences just how much I’ve missed seeing them.
Who are your biggest musical influences? Why do you love them? What are your three favorite albums of all time?
I love attitude and grit in songwriting, and I’m especially drawn to artists who can create a movie in my head when I’m listening. So I’m a huge fan of artists like Buddy and Julie Miller, Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin, and Lucinda Williams. Their writing styles have definitely had a huge impact on my own writing style over the years. It’s REALLY hard to pick just three albums, but if I must:
“Written In Chalk” by Buddy and Julie Miller
“Servant of Love” by Patty Griffin
“Time (The Revelator)” by Gillian Welch
What else is happening next in Lynne Hanson’s world?
I’ve got a couple of singles coming out this fall, and I’m currently working on recording a full album that we’re planning to release in March of 2022. Fingers crossed that I’ll be back on the road touring again by then as well, as we’re currently in the process of lining up dates in the US, Europe, and the UK.
Artist website: https://www.lynnehanson.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynnehansonmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lynnehanson
Instagram: https://instagram.com/plynnehanson
