Richard Hawley – Lowedges Review

Slap Richard Hawley on the back of a motorbike and stick him on an album cover. It must be 2003. Lowedges was a brief departure from the softer crooning image of the Sheffield hero, though not a break from those tender tones and lush instrumentals. If anything, it was a doubling down of Late Night Final and a neat piece in the puzzle which soon led to Coles Corner. Efficient writing and a constant need to create guides the best of them, and for Hawley this does mean frequent records. Lowedges feels like a stuttering point between two of his finest works. Certainly up to scratch and featuring some of his all-time best works, though dealt a difficult hand when sandwiched between a monumental debut proper and a Mercury-nominated album.  

All Lowedges can do then is steady the storm of hindsight with perfect numbers like opener Run for Me. A constantly spun track this one, on and on the record player it goes and rightly so. Plenty of heartfelt attachments to Sheffield filter through. I’m on Nights, a delicate tribute to Hawley’s father, settles well towards the end of the record while The Only Road feels like returning to your roots regardless of how far you travel. Much of this is part of the worldview Hawley provides, romanticised with the exceptional studio work of Colin Elliot and Shez Sheridan. He relies on the pair to bring about the near-sickly sweet momentum which carries Darlin’ and the likes. But it is easy to love those works as they flicker in the region of Hawley and Sheridan’s best instrumentals from the early 2000s.  

Patches of Oh My Love are carried by those slow builds only a confident man on the back of a strong solo release can manage. Lowedges is filled with those cutting next steps, the shimmy along to the levels of quality soon to be expected of Hawley – an astronomical high he maintained for some years. Lowedges is certainly a piece of this puzzle, it should not be cast aside. Its quality is as constant and consistent as the rest of these 2000s offerings. Melodic deep cuts like On the Ledge are more acoustic-driven, a brisk and brave break from the thicker layering found on The Nights Are Made for Us. But simplicity drives the best of songs and Sheridan’s work on acoustic guitar is an exceptional touch to an album which manages to make The Motorcycle Song feel like an essential listen rather than an I’m In Love With My Car from Queen equivalent.  

Vehicular love aside, Hawley has a cracker of a time on this one – a rare treat which adapts its name from, you guessed it, a district of Sheffield. There are more than a few tracks here which strike through as essential. Though Hawley may not be fond of returning to the Lowedges well, there is no denying the late-night listening potential of You Don’t Miss Your Water (Till Your Well Runs Dry). Lush string sections and the fear of abandonment all put to the softer sensibilities which would guide the very best of Hawley’s work on Truelove’s Gutter some half decade later. An essential release in a discography full of unskippable albums, though Lowedges appears at odds with its theme and image at times, the crooning interior a fair shot away from the biker exterior.