On March 24th, Shannon Hawley released her poignant and impassioned state all over ten tracks that encompassed the entire album called Starthrowers, and yet each stood out on its own.
Shannon has a voice all her own, with a soulful, sonorous, thick timbre. And yet, you can hear the greats and the greatest within her, with the likes of Springsteen, Kate Bush, Florence + the Machine, and Lana Del Rey. Like these artists, she doesn’t shy away from challenging perceptions or perspectives and sees all aspects. And like these artists, her voice takes the spotlight with a varying range. Her soaring, rich, and tender soprano voice deepens the impact of the words in her album, Starthrowers.
With alternating tempos and mixing of accents, Hawley, with her producer Hector Gundlach, professionally known as NekterGun, gives it a whirl with a soothing soundscape of synthesized music. The context of the songs is quite heavy compared to the beauty in her vocals. From “Mercy,” we discover Hawley singing of the death of one’s own young children with a second layer of vocals layered over acoustic guitars and heavy drums and the customary driving beats found in the album.
Of the 10 tracks, the first is called Starthrowers, after the titular album. There couldn’t be a track more introductory than this due to the regenerative force of feminine power that Shannon has showcased in the song. The last track, “Walk Each Other Home,” befits as a finale to the tragedy she tells that ends on a harmonizing and therapeutic note.
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Review By: Naomi Joan