“An unearthed gem of Irish music” - Clash Magazine
“As brilliantly distinctive as they come.” - Sunday Business Post
Acclaimed idiosyncratic singer-songwriter Paddy Hanna follows up his wildly successful February comeback track ‘New York Sidewalk’ with new single ‘Yoko Ono’, which is released today, Tuesday 5th April, on Strange Brew.
Drawing us even further into his new sonic direction, ‘Yoko Ono’ is joyously upbeat yet reassuringly offbeat - and Paddy Hanna fans would have it no other way.
“The song started as an improvised rap about Mike love from The Beach Boys, and over time it mutated into a cheerful bop about an identity crisis. There isn’t a day where I don’t feel like an imposter, so why not write a catchy tune about it,” says Paddy.
Giving a glimpse of the new direction that his music is moving in, Paddy adds: “Everything about the new music I’m currently releasing is borne out of love - which is the first time I can truly say that. During the pandemic I got married and had a baby, this music was recorded while there was a baby in my wife’s belly. I am also very fortunate to have worked once more with Daniel Fox (Gilla Band), Daniel Fitzpatrick (Badhands), Ken “MoonMan” Mooney and of course Gugai from Strange Brew, all of whom I have the greatest affection for. So it's just love on top of love on top of love. In other words, I’m a jammy bastard.”
Paddy Hanna’s February single ‘New York Sidewalk’ has been his most successful radio single to date; in the seven weeks since its release it has surpassed all of his previous singles in terms of airplay, gaining over half a million radio impacts and over 170 spins on stations nationwide. It was at the top of RTÉ Radio 1’s overall station playlist for two weeks running. Stereogum, who have long since championed the Dubliner, wrote of the track: “It sounds like its source of inspiration, an ambling walk around Manhattan in autumn.”
Hanna began his career in music as the frontman of Grand Pocket Orchestra before switching his attention to solo material with the release of his “wickedly smart” (NME) debut album Leafy Stiletto in 2014. Frankly, I Mutate (‘As brilliantly distinctive as they come.” - Sunday Business Post) followed in 2018 before Hanna released The Hill in 2020, which caught the attention of international music media and tastemakers. Stereogum described Paddy Hanna as a “wonderfully idiosyncratic musician” while Clash observed that he is admired by everyone from Fontaines D.C. to Burt Bacharach.
Over the years, he has supported legends of the music industry including B.C. Camplight, Joan as a Policewoman, Billy Ocean and Cate Le Bon. In 2019, Hanna supported one of his musical heroes Burt Bacharach during the Irish leg of his tour.
