Lola de Hanna - The Other Side

Lola de Hanna moved to NYC from Greece in pursuit of a career as a psychologist and instead became involved with the city’s vibrant music scene. After listening to her solo debut EP, she made a wise choice sharing her musical talents with the world. Her style continues on my multi-blend of genres kick I have been on lately. On The Other Side, de Hanna showcases her knack for songwriting along with blending an eclectic mix of electronic, indie pop and world beats.

Her unique vocals remind me a tinge of Edie Brickell but her sound is new and fresh for today.

With the opening track, “Thin Air” her unique vocals and world drum beats draw you in. With relatable vocals like “Now I’m kinda stuck and I should give up cuz you don’t hear my words, you’re not there” the chorus is very memorable and catchy.

“A Knack for These….” is the up tempo single with an accompanying video. This track is a little more electronic but continues with world drum beat influences and holds your attention.

“Wings” is a little more electronic and synth driven and showcases her Greek heritage midway throughout. The chorus of “You cut my wings tonight, they don’t fly” is memorable, but this is my least favorite track as it is your normal everyday indie pop fare.

“I Will Follow” heads back to an electronic foundation along with a nice airy guitar and those world inspired drum beats. With lyrics like “You are the first and the last thing I see” which reminds me of that obsessive relationship where you end up alienating everyone else around you for someone that might not actually be the perfect match.

“Oh So Gray” almost has an 80s type electronic vibe and is about being surrounded by negative people with the chorus lyrics “The sun through the window wakes me up, all of you are nothing but a cloudy day that’s oh so gray”.

The closer is “Ghosts” which showcases her vocals and songwriting the best. The backing of the piano leaves her vocals at the forefront and speaks of not letting your fears or past hurts take over with lyrics like “When the ghosts come out, I will open wide, let it in, soak it in, let me feel instead – now I won’t hide”.

After watching the recent Grammy awards and knowing that some artists are getting awards for changing one or two lyrics in a song to get co-writing credits and it’s considered “talent”, I just want to shake my head. I suppose the one positive thing is that Beck won this year who is a completely multi-talented artist, even though some I will not name, disagree. It’s refreshing to find artists like de Hanna that pour their talents into writing and creating a song and truly showcasing their talent that isn’t created by a huge team of producers which might be my distaste for what is popular music today.

With my rant about the state of music these days aside, if you dig unique and original – you need to check out de Hanna and her debut “The Other Side” which is out now and available on i-Tunes and streaming on Spotify. I am sharing my two favorites “Thin Air” and “Ghosts”.