May 4th sees the release of Bomb Pop, the melodious and exuberant new album from Hawk. Led by the enigmatic David Hawkins, the band has quickly gone from a more self-contained project into a full-blown supergroup with the enlistment of Jayhawks leader Gary Louris, Ken Stringfellow of The Posies (plus R.E.M. and Big Star) and all-time great drummer Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello’s legendary Attractions.

The ten songs that comprise Bomb Pop mixes up the Hawk tradition that was summed up one journalist as having “the crunch of AC/DC, the swagger of the Stones, and the melodies of Tom Petty,” as this time around the sound’s been further refined and tries on some shinier ’60s and ’70s pop-rock elements, especially apparent on “Allison’s Gone”, “Listen Like Thieves”, “Not Just Lonely”, and “Around The Sun”.

Today The Big Takeover is pleased to premiere the sun-drenched, classic power-pop of “Listen Like Thieves”, a fantastic driving-with-the-top-down, super-catchy guitar gem for the spring and summer months, which Hawkins says is, “A song about unrequited love in too-close quarters, and of the awkward moments and frustration that goes with it. Imagine that feeling of still being in love with someone but they’ve moved on. But now imagine they still live right upstairs. That’s what I imagined when I was writing this song. It’s a gut-wrenching realist take on love, with Gary Louris singing with me, powerhouse drumming by the great Pete Thomas and some stellar lead guitar work by Ken Stringfellow and Aaron Bakker. We all know love is never easy; but it’s never harder than when you’re in it alone.”

Bomb Pop is available to pre-order now from iTunes and Amazon, and you can keep up with Hawk at their Facebook and official site