Gert Taberner - “Hannah”
The life of Vancouver-based Gert Taberner has quite recently been racked by immeasurable loss, the details of which are not ours to tell. We, ourselves, did not find out until after we had fallen in love with his latest track, “Hannah,” as we did our research to write these paragraphs. Nonetheless, a listener does not need to know of this tragedy in order to know this fantastic song, one that spans multiple genres.
“Hannah” begins very raw and heartfelt, with vocal stylings that rival anything ever released by Old Sea Brigade or Bon Iver– the performance is quite emotional and we were completely sold on the layers of doubles and harmonies as soon as we heard them. However, after this very brief, folksy intro, the production takes a turn toward a more upbeat vibe, adding some dirt to the guitar and giving us some drums that ride the toms considerably hard.
At this point, the vocal delivery is less melancholic, with a melody that is more uplifting and hopeful. The production continues to grow into quite the indie rock performance and that emotional intro is now nothing more than a memory– almost as though “Hannah” could be read as some sort of timeline that measures catharsis, musically. There are no immediate comparisons that we can draw at this point, but it would not surprise us to hear this song on the radio, tucked between the music of Pete Yorn and Michigander.
“Hannah” is a breath of fresh air. It has all the parts that we cherish from several of the genres that we favor. If this is any indication of what we have to expect from Taberner’s future releases, we truly hope that he sends them all to us.
“Hannah” comes from Taberner’s latest EP, As Good As You Thought We Might Be, now available everywhere.
-TM