Album Review: Hanna Barakat - Siren

Sometimes we get music that doesn't mesh with our expectations. What we had been led to believe is in contrast to the truth that will be revealed, and that leaves us in a state of cognitive dissonance that can be hard to reconcile. Even good music that is outside our vision can be taken the wrong way, simply because we can't quickly enough wrap our minds around why the discrepancy exists. Such things shouldn't matter, but they do. Every piece of the experience colors how we hear a record, so everything from the cover art to the choice of single will make a difference in our final judgment.

That is what has happened with this record. The first single I was pointed to, "Leave Your Light On" is a piece of piano-driven pop that was quite lovely, but didn't mesh at all with the claim that Hanna Barakat is a rock artist. By hearing that song in advance, my mind was already leaning towards a sound that was softer, more piano-driven, and not at all rock.

So when "Wildfire" opened up with textural guitars that edged close enough to be called rock, I wasn't sure what to make of it. I felt a bit as if I had been led astray, set up for a swerve when none was necessary. I get that singles can't capture the full scope of a diverse album, but they can give a solid starting point if they are chosen properly. Putting out a piano ballad to introduce a rock album was probably not the best idea. If things were busier at the moment, I might have passed this record over, simply because I wasn't expecting it.

What do we get, then? Hanna's sound is one that is moody, creeping around the shadows of the spotlight. The songs aren't pumped full of aggression or energy, instead using the guitars to punctuate the emotional delivery. They add a bit of edge to provide the power needed for the tracks to drive home the point. Between Hanna's jazz-club vocal tone, and the structure of the compositions, it would have been easy for this album to become too soft, too subdued. Even with the guitars, it is still an album that requires some patience to appreciate.

As the album plays, I feel it's too subtle for what it needs to be. Everything is built around Hanna's voice, but I'm not sure she has the right voice to make the record this is aiming for. Her best singing is in the quieter, more reflective moments, and there's enough rock here to pull her away from that longer than is probably best. Her voice doesn't have the bottom end to project rock attitude, nor is it quite piercing enough to cut through a full band. This isn't quite the right material for her, as I hear it.

"Siren" is a nice album, and there's some solid songs here, but I don't feel they've quite hit on the sound that will let Hanna get the most out of her talents. There's something here, for sure, it just needs to be further honed.