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Get to the Gig Boston and MassConcerts present
Get to the Gig Boston/MassConcerts Present: Hannah Cole and Park National
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$16 in advance / $19 day of show
Hannah Cole
Image courtesy of the artist
Park National
Image courtesy of the artist
Nashville-based artist and songwriter Hannah Cole is embracing bitterness in her newest EP, Big Bite.
The title track, “Big Bite,” invites us into the moody allure of Cole with a wide soundscape bristling with grungy grit and biting riffs. The bass groans in the low end, while electric guitars converse in varying shades of melancholic resentment. Layers of harmonies supernova the chorus with coexisting brightness and low, brooding tones. There are elements of soccer mom-esque bubble grunge to be found in Cole’s sound, sprinkling feminine rage into an alternative soundscape. It’s the darkness that really brands this EP with the signature of Cole—the guitars that somehow sit like a pit in your stomach while simultaneously lighting a fire in your chest. It’s maroon in essence, slightly sullen but rich and vibrant in sound.
Cole picks up a bit of a pop pace in "Nuisance," lifting us out of the relative gloom of Big Bite, as driving drums and rhythmic guitars propel us onward. The treatment of the soundscape is an interesting facet of Cole’s style, but it’s especially captivating in this song. We start out dialed in close to the sound, almost as if she is singing hush-toned secrets through the radio effect on the vocals. Then, going into the pre-chorus, the reach of the sound multiplies, and suddenly every corner of the track is flush with aching guitars and slight distortion.
“Hilda” presents its soul on a platter of ambient synths and a cyclical, rhythmic progression. Cole rarely strays from vulnerability, but the production of this song really lets her breathe into the intimacy of the lyrics, inviting listeners to choke down the hard pill of adulthood alongside her. “But if life is getting old forever, at least we’re getting older together,” she confidently sings.
Closing out the EP, “Melt” picks up from the soft ground of “Hilda,” and then guides us hand-in-hand back to a place of moodiness. “Melt” ends Big Bite with a little fire of resentment burning alongside melancholy, a productive flame of spite deepened by the grunge guitar tones. For one final song, listeners can bask in cathartic bitterness as Cole muses on the push and pull of loving and hating someone in equal amounts.
Through a genre-defying discography guided by a DIY ethos, Park National has cultivated a dedicated community of fans with his introspective-yet-cathartic indie rock. The project of Chicago-born songwriter-instrumentalist Liam Fagan first made waves in the Midwest emo scene with his 2020 debut The Big Glad, a self-produced 8-track characterized by colorful emo-pop guitar playing and the turmoil of young adulthood. Hits like "How to Stop Caring" and "Beef Shawarma" quickly became staples in the DlY community, attracting attention from hundreds of thousands of listeners and gaining the record over 3 million streams to date.
Performed entirely by Fagan, the catalog has since ventured into sonic territories spanning from the grunge-y punk of the EP I'm Here and This Is Real to the folk-leaning indie rock of mirror. Yet despite this stylistic whiplash, fans have continued to grow closer to Fagan's songwriting—some even getting lyric tattoos and flying great distances to attend shows. It hasn't slowed down, either; he continues to maintain a steady 16,000 monthly-listener base on Spotify, over 50,000 on TikTok, and a global reach into the UK, Europe, and Australia.
Park National's palpable spirit is reflected not only through his hand-woven recordings but in dynamic full-band performances packed with personality and chemistry. Sharing bills with esteemed acts such as Oso Oso, Sweet Pill, Young Culture, and Crime in Stereo has brought bedroom-born songs to life on big stages while creating fresh experiences for fans with special live arrangements.