Fact #129076

I thought I’d had my fill of ukulele strumming girlies until I heard Hannah Botting of Owl And Mouse. All the way from Brisbane, Australia, she’s smart enough to keep her uke relatively low in the mix, with cheerfully wheezy electronic keyboards to the fore, and a range of vocal textures from her band to enrich the sound. It’s her songs, though, that make Botting worth paying attention to. Worst Kiss, with its warm violin and raspy baritone vocal from bassist Tom Wade, is as cosy as an old duvet; the unrequited love in Louie is the essence of all romance and the lolloping keyboard rhythm that underpins Keep Your Eyes Open Wide make it very special indeed.
(Johnny Black, Hi Fi News, 2015)