I wasn’t born / shackled and bound / to live life / and not feel alive – ‘Searching (For More)’

There’s a sense of defiance to Hannah Acfield’s new record, her debut solo long-player, No Light Without Shade.  There’s a sense of power, of fluidity, of almost endless space.

Above all though, there’s a sense of freedom, like Acfield, who grew up in the Queensland regional city of Rockhampton but is now based in Melbourne, has found what it is she needs to properly feel alive.

This isn’t, as many records are at this point in time, a Covid record.  Sure, it was honed during the long and cold Melbourne lockdown months of 2020, ironed out and refreshed and put under the magnifying glass.  But these songs were already here, close to fifty of them, well before things spiralled out of control during that year the clock stopped.

 “[That] lockdown gave me the freedom and space to focus on writing, refining and rewriting songs… in an unprecedented way,”Acfield concurs. “I had to have something that showed my shift in style and genre.”

It’s almost as if she has been building to this point her entire musical life, and to an extent, this is true.  Those aware of her music might be surprised that No Light Without Shade is a debut, given her already solid musical past.  Acfield, graduating from the Queensland Conservatorium in 2007, released two EPs early on – My Tomorrow in 2008 and Where You Once Lay in 2010 – before teaming up with younger brother, Dan, to form folk duo The Acfields. 

The pair had some success, releasing two full-length albums and an EP over the course of six years, while Acfield herself garnered a clutch of songwriting awards, including winning the 2012 Music Managers Forum of Australia Songwriting Contest; MusicOz finalist in 2010 and 2012; a Highly Commended at the QMusic Awards in 2016; and semi-final berths in the acclaimed International Songwriting Competition in 2019 and 2020 (the latter for album singles ‘Like Lovers Do’ and ‘Gold’).  It had become time then, for Acfield to step out on her own.

 “I’d just found that pure folk wasn’t enough for me,” she says on making the decision to temporarily part musical ways with her brother, “[even though] I pushed making pure folk music myself really, because I thought I needed to stick to one clear genre. [So] I wanted to use my voice, I really wanted to use my voice to its full capacity; I felt people in the folk world didn’t really know the extent of what I could do.”

As well, Acfield was burning to experiment with form and style, to step away from the deeply ingrained traditions that colour folk music, and try something new, something that would challenge and inspire her.  Something that musically and vocally, would set her free.

“It was nice to have that freedom,” she agrees. “I don’t think about, I’m gonna sit down and write a soul song, or whatever, it’s whatever comes out, comes out.  I’ve always written songs across genres, but for a long time I thought this was a flaw.  [Now], I’ve come to the realisation that it’s just who am I as a songwriter, so it was nice to finally allow myself the freedom to write freely and accept. It was really good fun.”

It was still a daunting exercise, coming from the relative comfort of a duo and taking the spotlight on her own, but it was the uncomfortable nature of the situation that pushed Acfield to craft what eventually became No Light Without Shade.  It’s an album that, firstly, does indeed showcase her voice, a voice that resonates across the record, boldly powerful and confident, rich with emotion,able to punch when needed, pull back when a softer touch is required.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, No Light Without Shade is the sonic experiment Acfield needed it to be, hence this feeling of freedom that pulses through it.  It arcs across a range of styles, which one could loosely file under the ‘roots’ umbrella, utilising that old musical adage of light and shade to great effect, melding it all together into a cohesive album, as opposed to a mere clasp of songs – a sensitive musical journey, emotive and otherworldly, charming and truthful.

 “I wanted to make a record I really loved, something I would listen to, and something I was really proud of,” she says on the album’s MO. “Having that extra time [during lockdown] to refine it, I wanted to make sure there was nothing I regretted or would have done differently.

“It was the best that I could do, and that’s all you can do, right?”

This is, for Hannah Acfield, a new phase of her musical life, the importance of which cannot be underestimated – No Light Without Shade is another beginning, unrestrained and free. 

Samuel J. Fell, May 2021

 No Light Without Shade is out now