Hannah Dorman : Sweet Passion

It's that time of the week and I've got another fantastic artist for you. She's actually live on Ustream as I write, and it just occurred to me that I haven't written about her yet. She's loveable, incredible and magic to watch. I must admit that after seeing her play an intimate acoustic set at Richmond, The American International University in London in October, 2010, her videos just don't compare. Hannah is one of those artists who have that electricity live. But, nonetheless, she's got a Youtube channel, so I'm writing about her! The first video of her that I came across when I looked her up was of Bruno Mars' "Talking To The Moon" of his debut album a couple years ago. It's a great little cover. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLkfjkuBRls

Sweet, isn't it? Hannah's voice definitely overrides her guitar playing, but as with most artists, her playing style compliments her vocals stunningly well. This stripped down, unplugged version of one of my personal favourite Mars songs (besides "Moonshine" of his more recent album) also exhibits what a fantastic songwriter Mars is. A couple chords and some simple lyrics make for the best songs! And Hannah's approach to the song is just perfect. It's not over the top or anything, it's laid back and simple, just the way it should be. So many times artists try to "do too much" with a song, whether it's an original or a cover. It's sort of like cooking. A lot of the time the simplest recipes are the best.

Now, if you dug that, make sure you subscribe to Hannah's Youtube channel, check her out on Facebook and all that cool stuff. If not, give me another chance to prove that she's great. You must have noticed that the previous video is about two years old, so here's something a little more recent that I love. It's a cover of Ed Sheeran's "Give Me Love." I must admit that I love the fact that although Hannah's overall style has changed a bit, she's still holding onto that blue Yamaha. I was thinking of getting one myself back in October, 2010 but ended up buying a Fender acoustic instead, which I fell in love with. Anyways, enough with me. Listen to Hannah doing this song justice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpiwYsA6RG4

Big difference, right? The improvement is great, but Hannah's still got that sweet passion to her that she had back in 2010 when I saw her. There's a certain quality to her voice that I like. It's definitely in the pop genre, but there's an alternative twist in there that really turns me on. Singers who try to sing "properly" all the time forget what it's really about, which is making sounds for people to enjoy. I mean, think of James Brown. He went against the musical system by creating music that couldn't be written into a typical format. Anyways, I'm babbling now. That was a great cover!

So, if you're not convinced that Hannah is great yet, I'd definitely recommend that you give her originals a chance first. When I saw her back in 2010, after I finished up my short set at Richmond, I wasn't really impressed until I heard her do an original. And that's the way it always is with me. A person can do the best cover ever and it still won't get to me as much as an original. And though the original I played that day ("Whiskey In The Cave") was far different than hers, I appreciated hers a lot. So, check this recent original out and if you love it, check out her songs that are available online. Thanks again for supporting Youtube's artists. Check back next Thursday for another fantastic artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoYf56R_aW8

Alex Hamel