Hannah Frances Nested In Tangles
Hannah Frances's Nested In Tangles arrives as a restless, elegiac collection that turns familial trauma and grief into vivid, often consolatory songcraft. Critics agree the record balances cramped, haunted arrangements with moments of orchestral release, and across two professional reviews it earned an 85.5/100 consensus score that signals strong, consistent praise.
Reviewers consistently single out a core group of standout tracks as the album's emotional anchors. “Life's Work” emerges repeatedly as the showstopper, its tumbling metre, piano-and-strings surge, and trumpet pursuit anchoring Frances's search for redemption. “Surviving You” functions as the bruised counterpoint, with pendulous rhythm and queasy harmonies that interrogate forgiveness and reconciliation. The title track “Nested in Tangles” and “Falling From and Further” deepen the record's haunted architecture with fractured horns, looping synths, and dissonant woodwinds, reinforcing themes of memory, loss and transformation.
While both Paste Magazine and The Guardian praise Frances's lyrical clarity and the album's textural inventiveness, critics note a persistent restlessness in the arrangements that sometimes unsettles rather than comforts. That tension, however, is central to the record's power: reviewers say it converts private revelation into formal daring. For readers searching a Nested In Tangles review or wondering whether the album is worth hearing, the critical consensus positions it as a compelling, often essential statement in Frances's catalog and a record of difficult reckonings rendered with imaginative musical detail.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Life's Work
2 mentions
"Quickly, the deluge of “Life’s Work” awakens in a descending scale, with noir chords"— Paste Magazine
Nested in Tangles
2 mentions
"Incongruent, drop-tuned guitar plucks, splashing cymbals, and flecks of trumpet flare"— Paste Magazine
Surviving You
2 mentions
"“I learned from you, how to leave, how to fight hard, how to pull apart and push away."— Paste Magazine
Quickly, the deluge of “Life’s Work” awakens in a descending scale, with noir chords
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Nested in Tangles
Life's Work
Falling From and Further
Beholden To
Steady in the Hand
A Body, A Map
Surviving You
The Space Between
Heavy Light
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 2 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
In his clear, observant way Matt Mitchell holds up Hannah Frances's Nested In Tangles and points out the record's best songs with care: the title track “Nested in Tangles” and “Life's Work” are singled out as emotional centers, while “Surviving You” and “Falling From and Further” deepen the album's haunted architecture. Mitchell writes with an attentive, elegiac voice, noting how the title song's fractured horns and looping synths open a consolatory space and how “Life's Work” explodes with piano, strings, and percussion. The narrative privileges the songs that most vividly translate Frances's grief into sonic invention, answering searches for the best tracks on Nested In Tangles without sacrificing the review's reflective tone.
Key Points
-
The title track is the album's emotional centerpiece, opening with fractured horns and looping synths that offer respite.
-
The album's core strength is translating long-haul grief into vivid, inventive arrangements that balance ambient textures and raw storytelling.
Themes
Critic's Take
Hannah Frances makes on Nested In Tangles a restless, unruly record where the best songs - particularly “Life's Work” and “Surviving You” - interrogate family trauma and forgiveness with vivid musical detail. Laura Snapes’s prose lingers on the showstopper “Life’s Work”, a runaway quest whose tumbling metre and trumpet pursuit make it one of the best tracks on Nested In Tangles. She treats “Surviving You” as the album’s bruised counterpoint, its pendulous rhythm and queasy harmonies exposing the difficulty of reconciliation. The review names “Falling From and Further” as restless and searching, another of the album’s strongest moments where country balladry collides with dissonant woodwind.
Key Points
-
The best song is “Life’s Work” for its tumbling metre and emotional clarity.
-
The album’s core strengths are Frances’s vivid imagery, restless arrangements, and clear songwriting voice.