Kickstarted by joyous guitar twangs and enthusiastic organs, “Waking Up” is a vibrant single from Edinburgh-based Withered Hand, the project of singer/songwriter Dan Willson. “Waking Up” provides the first peek at Withered Hand’s upcoming album How To Love, releasing April 2nd via Reveal Records. The track’s video, above, was filmed by Juliana Capes on location in Portobello, Edinburgh.
Following the lively opening, “Waking Up” assumes an ardent folk composure — bolstered swiftly by a brassy integration that exudes a smoothly confident charm. “I could raise my voice,” the vocals let out, aptly as the the backing organs and twangy guitars re-emerge with a satisfying vigor. “I’m waking up inside the dream,” leads into a delectable guitar solo, showing off shades of southern-rock in its dazed, hypnotic pull. “Waking Up” is a consistent delight from Withered Hand.
Willson expands upon the track:
“It’s hard to put down your worries when you’re so used to carrying them around that they seem like part of who you are. This song is about taking a long hard honest look in the mirror and about the unfolding process of trying to trim my rudder a little every day to do something about what I see there. In my mind I was channeling a Street Legal-era Dylan vibe with that strident chord pattern and Pete’s swirling Hammond organ and brass and the band bring a lot of joy to this arrangement, we had fun with it.”
Photo Credit: Jannica Honey
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of March 2023’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup. The submitter accepted our content-based offer, which included financial compensation for our time writing, editing, and publishing this article.
