Solitude is essential for Australian folk composer and sound collector Hana Stretton. Her debut, 2023’s, the shimmering ‘Soon’, was written during an extended stay watching over her much-missed Grandmother’s New South Wales farm-stead. Now Stretton’s sophomore release ‘tiarn’ has emerged, a work also conceived while living alone, this time in Lake Tabourie, a small beach town in South Australia. Crucially like ‘Soon’, this new album resonates with the connection she absorbs from context but there‘s a contrast between the two. Whereas ‘Soon’ evoked closeness and an honest intimacy with its delicate songs, ‘tiarn’ releases Stretton’s tunes into more open, unpredictable waters and the result is breath-taking.
Her time at Lake Tabourie coincided with whale migration season and the certainty of this natural cycle permeates the whole of the ‘tiarn’ soundscape. Right Whale rolls with slow tumbling undulations, the piano chimes merging into one another while Stretton’s voice whispers about “last winter” and the “north migration”. There’s a surging emotion set within the tune as the tide of sound rises and harmonising vocals echo, capturing memories of the humpback pod maybe. Such nautical imagery trickles through the shore-side sing-around of Salt, with its hand tapped beats and perky doo-wap acapella, as well as the folky stomp of Seagull Theory II. Here the sounds of pipes, harmonium and violin merge for a pure ambient folk moment, where familiar sounds create a melody that hovers enticingly just out of reach.
Crucially though, ‘tiarn’ is much more than an atmospheric portrait of Stretton’s surroundings. It has elements of a song diary, a personal recording of her days in Lake Tabourie. One routine that became intrinsic to the conception of the music was Stretton’s regular dusk-lit swim. From icy water to brisk evening walk home she found many of the album’s melodies taking shape. The lightly strummed tunefulness of Night Swimming, where her fragile voice floats within the receding waves of flute and strings, and Forest To The Sea’s quietly padding momentum, both reflect movingly on the daily ritual she maintained.
Her time alone, so crucial to creating ‘tiarn’, also seems to have given space for Stretton to dive back into memories. Film footage she discovered of her family in the Japanese countryside before she was born filter into the intricate sound collage of Nojiri 1993. Bird song, conversation, creaking boards and bells surface amongst the drone of violins mixed with harmonium. A rhythm ratchets the tune along while operatic crooning seems poignant rather than clever and adds to the melodic swoon of the piece. The assemblage is meticulous but sounds entirely spontaneous with the overall emotional clout of Claire Rousay’s indispensable ‘Everything Perfect Is Already Here’.
Such flickering memories form an undertow to the whole album’s soundscape. On the achingly beautiful Stove, a homely warmth grows from the children’s voices, harmonium chimes and a soprano’s distant aria, while the gospel soulfulness of From tingles like an old music box. Stretton’s lo-fi, hauntological approach on ‘tiarn’ is never twee though, there’s an earthy realism which elevates each song to a very special place.
Although less upfront than on her debut ‘Soon’, her voice remains key to this new collection’s impact. Understated and sensitive, it sings with the trill of Josephine Foster and the delicacy of Vashti Bunyan. Swaddled gently by the instrumentation she chooses, each tune has a cocooning effect. On Stay Involved her harmonies ripple gently with woodwind as she appeals for company whereas on As It Was Before This the Forest Creek Folk choir share the communal joy. “Sink into the water” they sing to the folksy harmonica and a rhumba rhythm before pipes play a Gaelic air as the song slows to a magical calm. Yes, Stretton’s music maybe experimental, often abstract but there’s no denying the reach of its human touch.
With ‘tiarn’ Hana Stretton shows she has the imagination and vision to follow other leftfield songwriters like Maxine Funke and Ana Roxanne onto wider acclaim. Music-making as striking and individual as this, really shouldn’t remain a secret.
Get your copy of ‘tiarn‘ by Hana Stretton from your local record store or direct from Lima Limo Records (Europe/Japan) HERE Brierfieldflood Press (Aus/NZ) HERE and P.W.Elverum & Sun (US) HERE
