Withered Hand – How To Love (Album Review)

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It has been a long nine years since we last heard from Withered Hand on the acclaimed ‘New Gods’ LP. Sadly, this musical vehicle for Scottish songwriter Dan Willson has been silent in part due to his struggles with mental health issues. Dan has been forthright about years of self-medicating his inner demons with whatever he could lay his hands on. It took some time before, three years ago, an epiphany was met at his lowest ebb, and the brave decision to face challenges sober began. That major life change totally dominates ‘How To Love,’ this is music fundamentally fuelled by those struggles wherein a feeling of celebration and release frequently rises from the trauma in these grooves. With numerous collaborators, including King Creosote and Kathryn Williams, climbing on board to create a far-ranging full band production, what we have here is the sound of one man getting to the other side of a deep dark tunnel and breathing in the air with immense life-affirming relief.

‘Feelings’ is a crunching powerhouse of an opener, a proper pot-boiler full of feverishly thwacked electric guitar flourishes, rhythmic brass punctuations and just a general air of someone wrestling their way out of an overbearing headspace. If the main refrain of the lyric is anything to go by, Dan emoting more than a touch of anguish when singing, “try to kill the feelings,” that is exactly what we are witnessing. Happily, though, he sounds like he is succeeding in this big pushback, so we proceed with courage. ‘Crippled Love’ has a more reflective tone; it rolls around a gorgeous lead guitar pattern that feels so right within a song showing a lot of vulnerability. Once again, though, there is that gritty determination to recover and not fall too far down in lines like “I didn’t want you to see the pain that I was in.” As a side note, this is one of those killer second tracks on a record that ensures the listener will be on board for the whole journey; a record’s ‘song two’ can be so important like that.

‘Waking Up’ should be familiar to anyone listening to the right radio stations this year. As the title suggests, it is an elegantly ecstatic little number that sings of “waking up inside the dream.” The drums rattle as if on a grand parade, the guitars rise beyond the clouds, and the whole ensemble positively testify to the message of optimism with an almost gospel-like fervour. That is something to note here, too, because a lot of chat about the writers’ struggles could lead to an expectation that the music is overloaded with introspection, which is not the case. The songs succeed in reflecting how life never offers simplistic beginnings and endings to any experience; still, it is evident the creation process caught Dan on an upward trajectory. Confidence sounds restored, and a sense of hope and appreciation for the good things life can offer projects in his voice. ‘How To Love’ is an album that is emphatically up when experienced as a whole; not only does it appear to have raised the spirits of its creator, but a similar effect is cast onto the listener.

The lyric to the title track is weighed down with worries and feelings of guilt, sung over a soothing warm strum of a vintage soul production made all the more compelling by the odd emotive crack in Willson’s voice. He is singing so well here, conveying both hurt and hope; think of an Edinburgh-based variant of R.E.M. doing ‘Everybody Hurts,’ seriously, it is that kind of high bar Withered Hand are repeatedly reaching here. A similar space is occupied by the ruminative ‘Serenity Prayer,’ underpinned with some haunting church organ-style scenery. ‘Misery And Company’ reignites the journey into the light as recurrent peachy sections are sung with verve by the ensemble, and ‘Give Myself Away’ even repeats “whoo-hoo” backing vocal breaks lending yet another energetic rocker a delightful lightness of touch. The tempo remains near the end, yet there is a recognition within ‘Still Quiet Voice’ that life can still knock you off centre in a flash, and the song’s musical key, evoking a gathering of storm clouds around a fading sun, magically illustrates this feeling.

Album closer ‘Comedown’ might read pensively too, but no, this is a comedown holding onto the healing, hope and optimism that the previous forty-five minutes have conjured. ‘How To Love’ is a remarkable album of human endurance that finds its thrills in the simple pleasures of life and living it as best you can. Obviously, it is terrible to think about Dan Willson’s struggles over the past few years, but I am a firm believer in the restorative power of music and sense that here, you can feel that exact process in action. As a result, the Withered Hand comeback is a thing of triumph and feel-good wonder.

Pre-Order How to Love at Bandcamp https://witheredhand.bandcamp.com/

For Upcoming Live Dates, visit: http://witheredhand.com/shows/