Hannah Georgas Duets With Matt Berninger For New Version Of Pray It Away
Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Graham MacIndoe
Hannah Georgas has shared her duet with the National's Matt Berninger.
The original version of Pray It Away appears on the Toronto singer-songwriter's latest LP, 'All That Emotion', which arrived in September. Lyrically it addresses prejudice within families, while the new take features glowing synthesizers that contrast Berninger's baritone vocals and the calmer notes from Georgas. Press play below.
Georgas co-wrote the track with Aaron Dessner of the National, who also produced the record. The collaboration came about after Georgas joined the National's touring band when they were on the road supporting 'I Am Easy To Find' in 2019. She said:
"In a lot of ways, 'All That Emotion' is a personal record but Pray It Away ended up being very collaborative. I co-wrote the song with my producer Aaron Dessner, who sent me an instrumental during the time I was writing and demoing.
"A close friend of mine inspired the lyrics. She told me over dinner one night that a family member didn’t want to attend her wedding because she was marrying a woman. I wrote the song the next day using the chord progression from Aaron's demo. It was upsetting to see my friend go through what she was dealing with at a time where she should have been celebrating.
"While Aaron and I were recording this song together, he mentioned it could be really great to ask Matt Berninger to sing on it. Ironically, it wasn’t until the pandemic hit when we were actually able to follow through with this idea, together. It's so lovely it all worked out and we were able to make it happen in the end."
Berninger added: "This song is one of my favourites off Hannah's new record, so I begged Hannah to let me sing it with her. Turns out sometimes prayers are answered."
The National vocalist put out his Booker T. Jones-produced debut solo album, 'Serpentine Prison', in October.
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