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Hamish Hawk calls his brand new third LP, ”A Firmer Hand” , his “coming of age record”. Indeed, songs have a brash freshness, incisive lyrics, and big melodies. Hawk’s cavernous, bellowing vocals cut through a slew of catchy riffs and beats, tinged with just the right amount of reverb and vibrato to send me happily back to the 80s. He’s not alone in his pursuits, as his sound mines similar realms to Franz Ferdinand and especially White Lies.
I’m a sucker for Scottish bands, and my interest in Hawk in part stems from that and the fact that Rod Jones (from the outstanding Idlewild) has produced all three of his records.
“Firmer” comes on the heels of Hawk’s somewhat sudden success with his last record, ”Angel Numbers” (Post Electric, 2023). He went from the small club circuit to a sold-out headlining show at Glasgow’s famous Barrowland Ballroom in front of 2,000 fans this past February. The album rightly caught on and is also an essential listen.
With ”A Firmer Hand”, Hawk says it’s very much a therapeutic purge; “writing this album, I opened up my closet, and a skeleton came out. The thing that links all of the songs is a sense of the unsaid, whether out of guilt, shame, repression, embarrassment, coyness, whatever it might have been. I realised: I am going to say these things, and not all of them are going to make me look good. The album made so many demands, and I just gave myself over to it.”
Hawk’s a bit of a pop shapeshifter. He can adeptly produce songs with soaring 80s flair, like with “Nancy Dearest”…
…and then move into more contemporary ground as on the killer tune, “Men Like Wire”. Though even here I’m reminded of what Morrissey and Marr are doing musically these days, as well as of Gene in their late 90s “British Disease” heyday. The same with “Disingenuous”, which keeps up The Smiths and Gene love.
The shapeshifting continues on “You Can Film Me”. Humming with hammond/vibrato keys, it veers into Stranglers territory with a dash of Julian Cope too. “Milk an Ending” has a slinky beat, and Hawk channels Dave Vanian like he’s singing a loungey Damned tune. Throughout his catalog, Hawk’s softer pieces are tinged with Travis or even indie-obscure popster, St. Christopher. Any coincidence that the new record has a track called “Christopher St.”?
Hawk’s knack for catchy arrangements keeps “Firmer” engaging. The strong closer, “The Hard Won”, has a mesmerizing percussive synth loop as its backbone. “Autobiography of Spy” has a plucky guitar riff and a sparse drum beat to allow breathing room. “Questionable Hit” finds Hawk talk-singing his way through the lyric verses, perhaps autobiographically. It’s a stylish, cool sounding follow up to The Smiths’ “Paint a Vulgar Picture”, reflecting on the sick, sad side of the music business.
UK and European fans can see Hawk on tour this summer and fall.
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