Hannah Cole – Mechanical Bull
Nashville-based artist Hannah Cole releases “Mechanical Bull,” the second single from her debut album, Switchbacks, out September 4th via Tight Knit.
“Mechanical Bull” carries on the fortitude of lead single “MMA,” a razor-sharp take on the ugly side of the music industry. On “Mechanical Bull,” she swings her gaze at other unsettling aspects of the scramble toward success. She’s seething with rage at being seen as just the “girlfriend” in music settings and not being perceived as an equal to her partner. The instrumentals swell, and as the percussions builds and the guitar into a gritty overdrive, she exclaims: “Don’t wanna be your mechanical bull / Spinning around in the back of this bar / Don’t wanna be your mechanical girl / Hidden away from the rest of the world.”
Cole elaborates: “I wrote ‘Mechanical Bull’ about the complex feelings that come with pursuing a music career alongside my partner, being seen as simply his accessory by men in the music business, and understanding that making music together is the best way to combat my rage toward this, to feel like equals. The song takes place at an industry party, following my perspective shift from the bull to the rider with a false sense of control, only to fall off and realize that someone else has been in control of my fate the entire time.”
Cole began writing songs and singing at six years old, despite the fact that there wasn’t much of a music scene in her hometown of Covington, Louisiana. After moving to Nashville in 2019 for school, she was exposed to new sounds and possibilities – and given the permission to dream big. Switchbacks, the follow-up to two EPs Glisten (2024) and Big Bite (2023), is a marked step in Cole’s development, showcasing the unique blend of style and technique that drew the attention of new independent label Tight Knit Records. Cole and her longtime collaborator and partner Josef Kuhn recorded the album in their home studio between 2024 and 2025, playing nearly every instrument themselves. Aided by mixer Sonny Diperri (American Football, Wisp, Julie), the album features a much wider and denser sonic palette than Cole’s previous releases, with massive, cathartic splashes of sound that were constructed with the live show in mind.
Across Switchbacks’s ten tracks, Cole melds shoegaze and alternative rock with infectious pop melodies and strains of 90s nostalgia. Like her local music kin Bully and Soccer Mommy, Cole found a way to merge a taste for her heavier sounds with a studied sense of songwriting craftsmanship, juxtaposing the sting of distorted guitar with cool, honey-sweet vocals and punchy melodic hooks. Switchbacks is not only a finely-crafted debut album but also a deeply human artifact, tracing an arc that blazes like a comet to the height of ambition and then leaves you in the shimmer of self-acceptance and contentment. “Success is a moment that comes and goes,” she concludes, “but I think the joy and experience that comes with making music is something I can take with me forever.”
In support of the album, Cole will play headlining shows this fall.
Hannah Cole Tour Dates
Fri. Aug. 21 – Nashville, TN @ The Blue Room *
Thu. Sept. 24 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern ^
Fri. Sept. 25 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean Downstairs ^
Tue. Sept. 29 – Boston, MA @ Warehouse XI ^
Wed. Sept. 30 – New York, NY @ Nightclub 101 ^
Thu. Oct. 1 – Washington, DC @ Pearl Street $
Fri. Oct. 2 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook $
Sun. Oct. 4 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 $
*= w/ Finger Foods ^= w/ Evil Adeline $=w/ Maddie FM
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