Caution is thrown to the wind by Hamish Hawk, an ironic and essential choice for the artist to make on the release of his latest record. A Firmer Hand requires not a tightening of his grip on what marks his work as a unique addition to the slow grooves of contemporary music but a slackened trust. Big Cat Tattoos was a sound of this process in motion, and what a treat it is in its fully-fledged form. Those art rock formations can be heard under the vocal focus A Firmer Hand provides. From those first few seconds, all the way through to its bittersweet end, is an artist reforming his thoughts and feelings for the details of his past. They are all there, smuggled in through his discography. Hawk builds and builds, rising through with reminders of the features he picked up on when focusing on the particulars of his confidants. A Firmer Hand has a miraculous tone to it.
Consistent as ever and beginning as well as can be with the intimate and harsh percussion of Juliet as Epithet, the work Hawk puts out here is exceptional. With a goth-like baroque tone in hand, the likes of Machiavelli’s Room sound as grand as the diplomats they mention. Hawk has brought on a cold and coarse style which benefits his voice and his fears, written up so well as battle scars and the healing qualities he pursues, brilliantly. Fall not into the shadows but into the dregs of another work. Some other, better artist out there has your number and the fear of being found out is engaged. Brooding and heavy tones are second nature to Hawk. As much is displayed by lead single Big Cat Tattoos and its chaser, Nancy Dearest. Those horrors of heading to heaven are placed well from the ivory tower – a neat mock of those who find themselves looking for sustenance beyond material wealth.
Pieces of biblical redemption come through Autobiography of a Spy, but a shocking passivity to its tone shows how well Hawk can conduct those perilous conversations. He is not afraid of the big topics and speaks clearly, collected wisdom and the fears of his future, of the world’s next steps, found within. Hawk is as sharp as his writing would have you believe. Christopher St. is a short and revealing listen – one man and a piano is all it takes to get to the core of this moving number. But like those who have much to reveal, little time is given to it before we are bounced back into the guitar-heavy reflections which make up the best moments of A Firmer Hand. Men Like Wire has all the highs of what it means to listen. To suffer, to take up arms for those you strongly believe in. Believe in Hawk. His sound and talk manage to walk the walk and hit out at those who are not set to back their sound.
These are the lush and rough encounters of a deeply personal set of experiences. Hawk can be praised not just for the openness of his intimacy but for the form he displays it. Roaring guitar work on those encounters he still ponders and feels distance from the depths of those intimate moments. Hawk has stripped himself of his security, of his influences, and provided a unique shockwave. If we are to peg every album as a breakthrough, we are set to continue the merry-go-round of applause with no goal met. A Firmer Hand is the conclusion of a breakthrough period. This is the sort of heartbreaking, earnest material that the very best of music hang their hat on years later. Hawk has a collection of essentials on his hands – a beautiful cacophony of similes which help him explore his, and a listener’s, heart.
