Song Spotlight: Hannah Hughes' Stranger With My Secret (a night at Harvard & Stone)

In late September, Hannah Hughes closed out at a Swyndle Monday night showcase at Harvard & Stone. Hughes is someone I started following via Julez and the Rollerz. I first came across the band at Happy Sundays Long Beach in 2022. (I covered the festival for Buzzbands and you can read a comment I made about the band here.) I only caught a couple songs that day as I was jumping around from band to band, but they did leave an impression as I ended up catching the band 4 different times in 2023. It also so happened that 2023 was the first time I caught a solo Hannah Hughes set at Hotel Cafe. I've had the privilege of both using my photos on their Instagram pages. I should note that Hughes left the band earlier this year -- should you show up to one of their sets for the first time ever and wonder if I'm getting bands mixed up in my head.

Hannah Hughes at Harvard & Stone

A few months back, I did a song spotlight of Julez and the Rollerz' "Call Me Up." I was actually thinking of doing a song spotlight of a Hannah Hughes song back in January, but life events got in the way and a show at Harvard & Stone got canceled. When I noticed she was hitting the stage in September at the same venue, I circled the date.  

She started the night off with the 2024 release "Tonite" that draws inspiration from the more psychedelic elements of The Bangles. The night was mainly to highlight unreleased material that will be part of an upcoming sophomore record release and so it was quickly off to the races with "Battery" (since released as a single) that had her kicking, swing her guitar, and pointing upwards before doing a hard cutoff on the pedal board. It got her friend Kristi Magdalene (of Pink Motel) breaking out in sweat as she danced near the stage.

Hannah Hughes at Harvard & Stone

Perhaps my moment of the set was during "Lovesucker" when I notice that at the start of the song, Hughes nearly smacked right into the microphone. Well, I had a feeling that it would happen again and later in the song an actual face to microphone collision occurred.       

Comment of the set: What a beautiful night. What a beautiful city. 

She closed out the set with two songs from her debut album, "Through the Garden" and "Amen." "Amen" had her going down and funky. She sported sunglasses to emphasize the point. 

Hannah Hughes at Harvard & Stone

The song spotlight goes to "Stranger With My Secret." She mentioned that she wrote the song after returning from the desert. Perhaps the desert trip was needed to cleanse the soul. It is a song that has guitar strings echoing a siren call-like riff. A song about a breakup with an individual that knew their most secret thoughts and then there is a random encounter.

Do you want to buy my drink, baby.
Or stare like you don't know me.

Hannah Hughes at Harvard & Stone

A painful moment that brings out the thought that this individual knew them better than her current friends.

My friends don't even know me.

Setlist: Tonite, Battery, Lovesucker, Stranger With My Secrets, Memory, Truth, Through the Garden, Amen.