(switch on subtitles) Hamish Hawk at Luxor, Köln, Cologne, 2024-06-02, tonight supporting Villagers on their "That Golden Time" tour, himself promoting his recent third album "Angel Numbers" (2023). Very nice guy, very nice songs. Thanks for coming and playing for us!
This Edinburgh-born singer/songwriter's intense, lyrical compositions blend aspects of indie rock and chamber pop, and are laced with a bone-dry sense of humor and often crammed with seemingly disparate historical and cultural references.
Hawk was born in 1991 and began playing music in his early teens, growing up in a household that gave equal weight to folk, classic rock, Brit-pop, and nu metal. He formed bands at school and, while at university, began to play solo gigs. Early backing came from Kenny Anderson, the man behind King Creosote, who in turn gave him prestigious opening slots and produced Hawk's 2014 debut album. Self-released under the name Hamish James Hawk, it was titled Aznavour after the charismatic French baritone. This was followed in 2015 by the Mull EP on Anderson's short-lived Boer Records. Hawk soon found himself working at Assai Records' Edinburgh branch, striking up friendships with the owner, Keith Ingram, as well as their likeminded punters. At a festival in 2016, he met Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones, kicking off a fruitful relationship, which ultimately led to Jones co-managing his affairs.
From Zero to One
In 2017, Hawk spent six weeks zigzagging through 26 U.S. states with Brendon Massei, aka Viking Moses, on a tour of peoples' houses. He documented the experience by writing songs -- often penned while sitting at the pianos of their hosts -- and, on returning to Scotland, immediately recorded the results at Mattie Foulds' Penicuik studio. A limited run of 50 handmade EPs were produced and duly given to friends and used for promotion. One of the tracks, "China & Down," was issued as a digital single that November. Next, Gordon Maclean produced the comparatively raucous From Zero to One, recorded with Hawk's full band the New Outfit, comprising Alex Duthie, Andrew Pearson, Barry Carty, and John Cashman. The completed record was issued on Assai in 2018, the first of many supportive moves by Ingram. Hawk's next Assai release, 2019's Laziest River EP, gathered three solo piano ballads from the 2017 handmade EP, alongside Jones-produced material composed in London, Glasgow, and Latvia. The EP's instrumental opener, "Jude the Obscure," was entirely composed and performed by one of Hawk's many close musical associates, Stefan Maurice.
Heavy Elevator
With funding from the arts body Creative Scotland, Hawk assembled Pearson, Maurice, Duthie, and Cashman, to record what he would later refer to as his most fully formed record to date. Heavy Elevator was completed in two weeks of sessions during September 2019, at Jones' Post Electric Studio in Leith. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to its immediate release but, in 2021 -- with the promotion wheels in full spin -- pre-release singles from the LP began to receive heavy rotation from BBC Radio 6 Music DJs. The album itself was released on Assai that September. (www.allmusic.com/artist/hamis...)
0:00 Hamish Hawk "Catherine Opens a Window", "From Zero To One" (2018), Luxor Köln Cologne 2024
5:45 Applause
Lyrics "Catherine Opens a Window", Hamish Hawk:
so you turn over
whisper into my shoulder
that you’re not clever enough
to be sleeping with me
now, it’s not about schooling
it’s more about using
what you’ve been given
what you’ve got
and what you’ve got is more than enough
i remember when cancer
was just a constellation
a starry eyed crustacean
with nothing to say of whether you and i
live or die
i don’t remember glasgow
until i was fourteen
it’s where the people i know
tend to let themselves go
whеn they’ve got something to bring to an еnd
well it’s one, two, three
steps in the cul de sac, you and me
your feet on the ground
mine hitting your back
we’re running so fast that we
smash into the bins
and we tumble over
catherine opens a window
“now, boys, that’s not how you play”
catherine just wait, what a peculiar thing to say
i remember maxwell
i remember his mum too
her hands in the cool drawer of the fridge
and her man’s fists on the window ledge
i remember michaela
i remember her last name
i know she could dance, i know she could hide
and that she won a netball game
but she’s gone now, sticks in the corner
there’s a bus ticket in the breast pocket of her green blazer
her mum has hung it up to dry in the airing cupboard
in the hope that she might need it this morning after
just once
maybe forever, again
well it’s one, two, three
steps in the cul de sac, you and me
your feet on the ground
mine hitting your back
we’re running so fast that we
smash into the bins
and we tumble over
catherine opens a window
“now, boys, that’s not how you play”
catherine just wait
“well you know, you’ll both have jobs one day”