FROM UPCOMING NEW ALBUM ‘HEAVY ELEVATOR’ OUT SEPTEMBER 17
CONTAINS THE BBC 6MUSIC PLAYLISTED SINGLES ‘CATERPILLAR’ & ‘CALLS TO TIREE’
“That is a great, great record” Marc Riley, BBC 6Music
“Hamish is such a natural storyteller, both in life and in his music. His way with words is something that I admire and envy in equal measure.” Charlie Cunningham
MOJO Playlist
Hamish Hawk has shared new track ‘New Rhododendrons’, the third to be lifted from the rising Edinburgh musician’s forthcoming album ‘Heavy Elevator’ which will be released on all formats on September 17, 2021. Standard Edition Vinyl LP, Dinked Edition Vinyl LP and CD will be released on Assai Recordings, pre-order here. Produced by Rod Jones of Idlewild and recorded at his Post Electric Studio in Leith, ‘Heavy Elevator’ contains the singles ‘Calls To Tiree’ and ‘Caterpillar’, both of which were B-listed at BBC 6Music.
A contrast to the angular, post-punk of ‘Calls To Tiree’ and ‘Caterpillar’, ‘New Rhododendrons’ is subtle and reflective, it’s swelling melody evoking artists like The National and Sufjan Stevens. As with all Hawk’s songs the lyrics are vivid and literate, but here they also have emotional heft:
What blooms in June / New rhododendrons / Now take it as signal / See it as a symbol / I’m keeping these things alive.
“In general New Rhododendrons is a song about change,” comments Hawk. “Perhaps more accurately, it’s a song about growth. Endings and beginnings. There’s no small amount of sentimentality in there, but there’s also a sense of peace that felt hard-won at the time. Some of my songs are like photographs, in that I can picture exactly where and who I was when I wrote them. Rhododendrons is like that. I did everything I could to keep my hyacinth alive. In the end the whole thing fell out the window. I’ve since moved on.”
Discovered by Kenny Anderson (King Creosote) and mentored by Anderson and Rod Jones, Hawk has been quietly readying his music for sometime, with ‘Heavy Elevator’ marking a huge leap forward for the graduate of St Andrews University.
Rich of voice and even richer of imagination, Hawk creates musical pen-portraits, chamber pop songs that have swallowed both a dictionary and a compendium of modern urban (and island) fairy tales.
“Heavy Elevator reads like my diary,” says Hawk of the album. “It’s just about all in there, and it goes way back. The teary-eyed losing your mum in the supermarket stuff. The awkward teenage thing. The lost twenty-something. The chance encounters, the half-remembered conversations, the witching hour panics, the hostile takeovers. There is more of me in it than any album I’ve written previously. It describes the feeling of reaching the heights you promised yourself, replaced all too often by the feeling that you’re sinking. Heavy Elevator sounded about right.”
Hamish Hawk’s videos display his literacy and creativity, while revealing him as a performer of David Byrne-like physicality and charisma. The video for ‘Caterpillar’ was directed by Ellen De Faux of LS Productions, who was nominated for a 2021 GRAMMY as one of the producers of Harry Styles’ ‘Adore You’ video. Influenced by Peter Brook’s iconic 1971 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play ‘King Lear’, in the ‘Calls To Tiree’ video Hawk wittily channels the Fool.
Hawk met Rod Jones at the Iona Village Hall Music Festival before Jones mentioned he’d be interested in recording some sessions at his studio in Edinburgh. One session became a couple of sessions, a phone call here and there became pretty regular contact, and an acquaintance became a producer, a producer became a mentor, a mentor became a manager. Their long collaboration has resulted in ‘Heavy Elevator’, destined to be one of the most intriguing albums of 2021.
Hawk and his band recently performed for The Great Escape Festival, watch their powerful live versions ‘Caterpillar’ & ‘Calls To Tiree’.
Hamish Hawk ‘Heavy Elevator’, track list:
01 Vivian Comma
02 This, Whatever It Is, Needs Improvements
03 The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973
04 Bakerloo, Unbecoming
05 Your Ceremony
06 Caterpillar
07 Daggers
08 Heavy Elevator
09 Calls To Tiree
10 New Rhododendrons
Released on all formats on September 17, 2021. Standard Edition Vinyl LP, Dinked Edition Vinyl LP and CD will be released on Assai Recordings, pre-order here.
Dinked Edition 125 consists of:
Exclusive alternative cover art
Double-sided lyric insert
Clear Vinyl with black splatter
Signed A5 artist photograph