Those savvy shoppers around Christmas may have picked themselves up a steal with Bones. A song limited to vinyl, still not on streaming and likely never there, feels a bit counterproductive. But it is an offering to the old days, where connecting with music was an event and not just a passive choice. There is something to love in how Bones is a B-side, a callback to the old days of single releases with a big of weight behind them. The resurfacing of record sales and the interest now in them leads to music as an event once more, why not make some songs exclusive to it? Hawley does just that with People and Bones, the latter only heard on this double pairing, and what a treat it makes for. In This City They Call You Love stands tall as one of Hawley’s best – and songs like Bones are proof of it.
Ease into it with People, the soft thud of acoustic sounds wonderful on vinyl and makes for a calmer atmosphere, even with the heartbreak at its core. A toss of the coin relegates Bones to oddity rather than album staple. What is clear is its quality. A roaring guitar track with Hawley taking centre stage as he writes up another colloquial charmer. Boneyards and some clear work from Shez Sheridan on electric guitar, that is the great gift from Bones. It could have fit on the album had there been space for it, though space in the digital age is up to an artist. Bones is a tremendous effort which slots comfortably into the blur of rocker and crooner, two large facets Hawley has dealt with in a solo career spanning twenty-five years. Bones is a culmination of those experiences, a defiant guitar track which has space for tender lyrical displays too.
Considering the approach taken by Hawley to still maintain Bones as part of the In This City They Call You Love project, it is great to hear the welcoming tone continued. On it goes as a remarkable example of the overarching love and hope which stands in Sheffield. He has not shied away from those colloquial charms on Bones, and it feels refreshing to experience an additional release not put out to further the financial purpose of an album, as is the case for other pop acts of the time. No, this is an extra piece of a very fine project, and for its price, is a very reasonable experience. Bones has all the hallmarks of a strong Hawley song – and relegating it to a B-side feature feels like a cruel joke for the passive listener.
But not everything needs to be tailor-made to the everyday music enjoyer. This is the trick pulled by Spotify and other streaming sites. What we can enjoy in Bones is an old-school appreciation for Hawley and his work. Flip the record and drop the needle, the sort of thing pompous Reddit users get a warm feeling from when trying to aggrandise the experience. There is no doubt there is some wonder, still, in bringing a new style of listening, even from the old, to a fresh audience. Bones does just that and for hardened Hawley fans is a must-listen. Dust off the old record player, buy a new set, it is well worth it to hear Bones and all its near-album qualities.
