Hattie Whitehead - debut album and UK live dates, October / November 2024.

Saturday, October 05, 2024

Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Hattie Whitehead, frontwoman of Hejira, released her debut solo album "Bloom" on 4th October 2024 and is to play a short series of UK live dates.

We have received the following press release;

HATTIE WHITEHEAD Announces Debut Album BLOOM
4th October 2024

& Shares New Single/Video
‘VALENTINE’
WATCH VIDEO BELOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDy0gl2yTk

“Hattie Whitehead is one of the greatest singers I have ever heard.”
Jazzwise

“Hattie Whitehead has rich, honeyed vocals as well as a talent for writing enthralling melodies and soul-baring honest lyrics.”
The Telegraph

“The rising singer-songwriter’s songs are deeply melodic, building soulful, lilting vocals, subtle harmonies, swelling guitars and warm atmospherics.”
i Paper

Rising UK singer-songwriter Hattie Whitehead announces details of her debut album Bloomcoming 4th October, and shares album teaser ‘Valentine.’

Hattie has previously released three critically acclaimed EPs and gained much attention for fronting Hejira, the band paying homage to the work of Joni Mitchell. She has garnered fans in musicians such as Guy Garvey, coverage from national media including the Telegraph, iPaper, Craig Charles at BBC 6 Music and Jazzwise (who called Hattie “one of the greatest singers I have ever heard”), as well as achieving accolades such as winning Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent award (2015).

Hattie’s sound encompasses hues of the 60s and 70s folk and jazz greats she was raised on, such as Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake, coupled with a direct style and unflinchingly honest lyrics attributed to her more modern tastes in artists such as Wolf Alice, Kurt Vile and Angel Olson.

On her debut album Bloom, the sound is heavily impacted by the presence of powerhouse producer John Reynolds (who’s production credits include the likes of the late Sinead O’Connor) with keys from Chris Pemberton (John Grant). Lyrically, akin to Joni Mitchell, Hattie’s songs pull directly from her life experiences and observations, with a deeply introspective and emotionally raw punch poured into harmonious and tender songs. More recently Hattie’s music has focussed on the loss of her mother to cancer, however Bloom, with its purposely Spring-like title, is about the re-emergence of hope and new life, as it traverses themes of grief, re-growth, mental health, family, roots and female empowerment.

“On Bloom the overarching theme is discovering who I am” explains Hattie. “Of re-emerging from a period of intense grief and reassessing life from a new viewpoint as a changed person.”

New single ‘Valentine’ perfectly depicts life and its inevitable forward motion. It is the album’s most jubilant song and beautifully romantic in an understated way, written in the run up into Hattie setting up home with her partner, it explores the thoughts of family, generations and home which arose from such a move.  “In essence it’s a love song about growth, compassion and home” explains Hattie.

‘Valentine’s’ accompanying video celebrates the song’s theme.
“I wanted the video to document the three generations of my family” explains Hattie “and to create something that captured the personalities of my grandmother’s house, the family home I grew up in and which still houses my dad Tim and brother Sonny, as well as my current home that I share with my partner and Joni Bitchell the dog!”

Director Jodie Canwell was invited to make the video after Hattie was moved by her tender and unobtrusive style opting to shoot little moments of beauty that may otherwise go unnoticed. 

“Each space in the video features the people that live there carrying out an activity that I associate with them” Hattie expands. “My 93-year-old Nanny’s love of steamy romantic novels, my dad and brother’s joy in a game of Jenga at the kitchen table and my partner’s air of calm and love for houseplants simply had to be documented for this song. The result is a video that I will treasure forever. It’s like a little locket pendant in video format, and I hope it gives my listeners a little moment of warmth and calm as it does for me. “

BLOOM TRACKLIST:
Alive
Valentine
If You Hide
I Am Being Fed a Machine
In The Rain
The Last to Come Along
Distance
Too Much to Write
Sit and Wait
You Tell Me So
No Man’s Land

‘Valentine’ was released as a digital single with long-player Bloom following on 4th October 2024 (on vinyl, CD and digitally)

Hattie Whitehead has played numerous shows as part of Hejira and as a solo artist including performances last summer at Sidmouth Fringe Festival and as support to Indigo Girls on their UK tour including a night at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. She plans a series of UK live dates to promote Bloom, confirmed dates below, others to be announced.

LIVE:
8th October - Folklore Room, Brighton
10th October - The Grace, Islington, London
17th November – Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham

LINKS:

https://www.instagram.com/hattiewhiteheadmusic/

https://www.facebook.com/hattiewhiteheadmusic

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKpHfY4YBs0zCjwfiXMVDDQ

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7bQIC1auMQPcwd4zPrGeU4