War on Women: Calling All Good Men is the ambitious fourth album from singer/songwriter and musician Hannah Wicklund. It feels like much more than simply an album release. The whole project surrounding this record has been fascinating and wonderfully creative. Leading up to its release, Hannah released each song as a single. Each release occurred on a specific date, not at random. Every release arrived with the full moon, month by month.
Alongside the music, Hannah has masterminded her own magazine, The Strawberry Moon Tribune. It encourages fellow creatives to contribute and releases each issue with the new moon. I have had the pleasure of seeing Issue 1. It is a beautifully put-together smorgasbord of poetry, witchery, activism, and art. My hippy heart sang.
It seems fitting that an album rooted in transformation came from a period of upheaval. This reflected Hannah’s life during that time. Last June, on Friday the 13th, Hannah went through a massive personal change. It was two days after the full moon, known in folklore and tradition as the Strawberry Moon. She split from her long-term partner days before their planned move. They were due to relocate to a private island off the coast of South Carolina. This came just two weeks after she had uncovered what she describes as full-blown collusion and conspiracy between her attorney, manager and label, receiving a death threat from her own manager in the process.
For two months, Hannah questioned her future and whether music even had a place in it. Then she began writing again, and War on Women: Calling All Good Men sparked into life. Personal trauma became a catalyst for a creative rebirth, and this album is the result.
The album takes the listener on an emotional and powerful journey through gospel, soul, rock, pop and blues. As if I wasn’t impressed enough by Hannah’s story and the creative outpouring that followed, the record was also written, recorded and self-produced on a minimal budget funded entirely by Hannah’s paintings and artwork. Is there no end to this woman’s talent?
Musically, War on Women: Calling All Good Men is a beautiful blend of softness and strength. The opening track, ‘War on Women’, highlights Hannah’s stunning vocals against a stripped-back, almost a Capella arrangement. It is gentle, but somehow still manages to hit hard, immediately setting an emotional tone for what follows.
Then ‘Red Gorilla’ changes the pace completely as the rock side of Hannah kicks in. This is a song I could imagine appearing on classic rock albums for years to come: big, classy and full of fire. ‘Marionettes’ still hits all the right rock buttons, but the addition of piano brings a touch of Tori Amos into the mix, alongside an almost classical quality that gives the track another layer.
‘Diamonds’ takes things back down to a gentler pace. There are more layers here than in some of the album’s more stripped-back gospel moments, but it still manages to feel ethereal and almost magical, perfectly fitting Hannah’s self-described ‘rock ‘n’ roll fairy’ aesthetic – an aesthetic I am totally down with, might I add.
The album ends with the bookend of the title, ‘Calling All Good Men’, returning to the a capella and gospel influences of the opening track and bringing Hannah’s journey full circle. It feels like the perfect ending to an album born from such upheaval: there is pain here, certainly, but also hope, possibility and the promise of new beginnings.
War on Women: Calling All Good Men is not just an album about what happens when life falls apart; it is about what can emerge when you begin putting yourself back together. Hannah Wicklund has taken a period of enormous personal upheaval and transformed it into something beautiful, creative and deeply emotive. And if the album itself wasn’t enough, she’s created an entire creative world around it for other artists and audiences to step into. I’d say that’s a pretty magical achievement.
HANNAH WICKLUND OCTOBER 2026 HEADLINE TOUR DATES
1st – Birmingham, Institute 2
2nd – Liverpool, O2 Academy
4th – Guildford, Boiler Room
8th – Tunbridge Wells, The Forum
9th – Arlington, Arlington Arts Centre
11th – London, The Lexington
10th – Norwich, Waterfront
14th – Farsley, Old Woollen
17th – Bury, The Met
19th – Edinburgh, Speakeasy
20th – Glasgow, Rum Shack
22nd – Grimsby, Yardbirds
War on Women: Calling All Good Men is out now and you can get it here
Hannah Wicklund Socials: Facebook/Instagram
Review by Hayley Foster da Silva
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