JAM THE ALBUM WHILE YOU READ
"GREAT ADD YOU SAUCY MINX" - BEN
HANNAH JADAGU
ADMIT IT
APRIL 30TH, 2023
Spelunking in old vinyl crates, looking for lost gems, or, trolling streaming playlists, trusting the algorithms to offer up the unknown, here’s your chance to introduce yourself to a young talent that has a bright future.
Me? I’m a man of a certain age. My relative youth is in the rearview mirror. College days are decades gone. But here we have Hannah Jadagu, age 20. College student. And a Sup Pop signee. She has a new full length album coming soon. And she just released a teaser with her four song Admit It (EP). Yes, it would be easy to listen to the same Sub Pop albums of yore. You know the ones. No need to rehash here. But if I never bothered to play anything but those early 90s college day tunes then I’d miss out on lovely serendipitous discoveries. Why do I still have a passion for new music, new sounds? Because of artists like Hannah.
Jadagu is Tracy Chapman sans protest songs and more beats. She’s Sade growing up in 2010s Texas instead of 1970s Nigeria and Essex. But Jadagu’s voice is more Traceyann Campbell of Camera Obscura than anything else, and it’s easy to place her alongside other female breakout stars like Beabadobee and Clairo. She makes bedroom indie pop that is moody and melodic and magical. Each track is produced exquisitely. Drum beats and guitar lines, sometimes fuzzy, more often subtle and sublime. If we have to point out a single song, let it be the title track. “Admit It” hits on all cylinders. The instrumentation is a 21st century sound that will not become stale in the decades to come. This (as well as the other three tracks) is a timeless tune. Portishead’s Dummy still sounds fresh three decades later. I predict the same for Hannah Jadagu’s work.
- Trent Ryan Smith