Jeff Hanson's voice is his defining trait, but
listeners who get preoccupied with the ethereal, ladylike falsetto run the risk
of ignoring the "songwriter" part of "singer-songwriter." His third album, Madam
Owl,
doesn't differ much technically from its predecessors, adding flourishes when
necessary and keeping things achingly elegant and simple at other times. From
the stark flugelhorn on "The Hills" to the clucking banjo on "If Only I Knew,"
Hanson knows when to build bigger textures and when to pare back and be more
vulnerable. There are no dramatically building eight-minute songs like there
were on his self-titled sophomore album, but his lyrics, if anything, are more
memorable this time out. "No Never Mine" opens and closes with the stunning
admission, "I've done what I've done / There's no use in trying the right way
now." From the excellent, sweeping opener "Night" to the somber closer "This
Friend Of Mine," a recurring theme on Madam Owl is the persistence of
change, for better and worse. Hanson approaches it with the understanding that
there's value in things that can't be changed—and that accepting those
things at face value can be liberating.