Hannah White - Fine Day (2025)

In the last couple of years, Hannah White’s career has taken some huge steps forward. Awards for album and artist of the year, support slots with Jools Holland, and showcase gigs in Nashville are just a few of the accomplishments. Following up a successful, widely praised album is always tough, but with “Fine Day” she has opted for the less-is-more approach with 10 songs and a 40-minute running time.

That puts the focus firmly on the quality of writing and performance. The slightly subdued opener ‘Good Questions’ is all about the words. She confronts the questions that keep many of us awake. “Will they ever stop dropping their bombs? Will they ever stop firing guns?” The writer of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’, Cecil Frances Alexander, supplies the words for the chorus. “Will summer bow her beauty unrecognisable to me? When winter comes, where will the bright things be?” Pedal Steel player Sarah Jory and Keiron Marshall on baritone guitar supply a suitably funereal backing to White’s musings. She follows that with an epic country ballad, ‘Hard-Hitting Memories.’ Lars Hammersland’s Piano and Hammond Organ take the song to church over a backing chorus. White’s voice rises above everything to return our attention to the words.

‘Man Out There’ tells the story of a man whom White had befriended, who turned out to not be the person he had pictured himself as. The sense of loss and anger at being misled is all over the song, from Marshall’s spikey guitar solo to the last line, which suggests that he will simply move on to manipulating other people.

This album is less reliant on guest players than ‘Sweet Revolutions’ was, which gives a more unified “band” sound overall. Michael McGoldrick’s Low Whistle adds a Celtic feel to ‘Hyla Karula’ while White’s vocal reminds us of singers like Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. ‘Camberwell’ takes a series of butterfly metaphors to celebrate her relationship with her twin sister. ‘What Do You Take Me For’ has an almost 90s indie pop feel to it. The sense of weary resignation in the face of more powerful forces is carried into the music. Lars Hammersland’s Accordion lends an almost Cajun feel to ‘Glory Overcome.’ A joyful sounding song inspired by her husband, Keiron Marshall’s, stories of his past, her sleeve notes say, “If this album were a book, this song would be the chapter before ‘Fine Day’ when Keiron walks away from his family to create a new reality.”

‘Fine Day’ itself is a piano and pedal steel-led tune again inspired by White’s personal relationships. The poignant music is reflected by the lyrics about being let down by a succession of people. There is an upbeat resilience and determination in the song, which is almost heartbreaking. ‘Maybe One Day’ continues that theme. “Maybe I’ll grow you away… Maybe I’ll dream you away.” White has grown into one of our finest writers of emotions with the songs on this album. She looks at life with a rare honesty and translates that into poetic lyrics which meet life head-on without flinching.

The album closes with ‘All This Unnecessary Beauty,’ where White turns her attention to “the beauty industry and standards which both repel and draw me toward their impossible aims. All this brutish, faultless, immaculate perfection. There’s no attraction in that for me… All this unnecessary, useless beauty it’s killing me.” Gerry Diver’s Violin provides the ideal backdrop to her condemnation of the industry, and her conflicted feelings about it.

With ‘Fine Day’, Hannah White has produced yet another astonishingly good album. She has resisted the all-too-common tendency to pack out records to 14 or more songs and just settled for presenting us with the songs which speak to how so many feel about their lives. More awards beckon.