Irish folk/pop songstress, best known (still) for the seven years she spent touring and recording with Damien Rice, follows her acclaimed, Mercury Prize-nominated debut Sea Sew with this new ten track project produced by Grammy-winning producer Joe Henry (Solomon Burke, Allen Toussaint) and engineered by Ryan Freeland (Ray LaMontagne)…Hannigan says the new songs (and album title) come from the “loves, heartbreaks, confusions and friendships that we take with us through life”…Ray LaMontagne duets on the stark lament “O Sleep” // Release: Passenger (September 20, ATO)// Sounds like: the luxury of time played a big part on the songwriting as Hannigan says she “took her time” in putting the songs together…a low-voltage but palpable energy permeates many of the tracks — notably on the bristling “Knots” and “What’ll I Do”…

Quote: “Many of [the songs] were written while I was away from home or on the road, and the feeling of transience and nostalgia that this constant traveling evoked seemed to seep into every song.” // What we like: there’s an air of mystery in the lead track (and free download) “A Sail”, some dark shadows creeping into the wistful melody…the title track is typically wonderful Hannigan fare, sweet and unassuming…”Paper House”, with a whispered intensity, is one of our faves…while she put some time into the songwriting, Passenger has the urgency of a project that has tried to capture a live feel to the production and arrangements — we can’t remember an album that has such an extraordinarily intimate vocal mix and presence…

-Direct Current

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