Hannah Brine - Blue Sky Now (2025)

Hannah Brine released Blue Sky Now, her debut album, in late June. Brine moved up from London to Derbyshire a couple of years ago and, judging by her comments about the cathartic effect of country life and the joys of watching her plants grow is clearly enjoying the move. You need only to look at the titles of tracks to get a sense: ‘Goodbye London’, ‘’Blue Sky Now’, ‘Cobwebs and Lace’, Boxes’.

These are titles of transition, acknowledgement of the past but looking to her new world. ‘Goodbye London’ talks about “Won’t forget the times we had … Wish you could have loved me too … But you never got to know me and you never got to care” – to a simple piano tune and Brine’s atmospheric voice.

The album opens with ‘One Precious Life’ – a jauntily jazzy tune which equally suits Brine’s vocal, both in the sparser first half and the more fully arranged second half. She has a gleeful tone as she sings “We’ll know that we did all / all for love in this one precious life”.

It’s followed by a beautifully picked accompaniment (I assume it’s the guitar work of Jamie McCredie, who is also credited with production and engineering) on ‘You Make Me Believe in Love’, all tension and affection until the warmth of a final string accompaniment (McCredie is also credited with strings arrangement).

There are ten tracks in all, a mixture of jazzy, smooth, piano, string-sweet, and/or band. I’ve linked to ‘Boxes’ in the video which gives a strong sense of how well Brine sings in front of the band – it’s another reflection, I suspect, on moving from her old life to her new “Are you somewhere unpacking boxes too? …. A lot of love a lot of dreams …”.

The other two tracks I’d highlight are the title track, ‘Blue Sky Now’, with a delicious vocal against piano and the gently catchy ‘This Little Ship’ – a song of freedom and future-looking “I have changed the locks on my affection [splendid!] … This little ship has sailed to new horizons / and my heart’s no longer yours” – ‘catchy’ because you want to join the chorus.

Blue Sky Now is an enjoyably gentle debut album. If you’re near Kings Bromley or Thame in November you can hear for yourself as there are a couple of live shows on Brine’s website.