Irish Centre, Leeds 18th Feb 2025
It’s the eyes that get you when you first see Hamish Hawk play live. Expressive and communicative, he seems to twinkle at the crowd and at individuals in the crowd. The smile too; the one that says, ‘I’m quietly pleased with my work’. The modestly spoken chats with the audience: “You might know we have an album out recently. What do you think of it? We quite like it”. There’s an impression that Mr Hawk is a very nice man, polite too. That might be totally wrong but it’s hard to fake something like that and we all feel happy for him and the sudden success of the last few years rewarding over a decade of effort.
He makes a point of saying “I’m Hamish Hawk. WE are Hamish Hawk”; referring to his five-piece band that have mostly come with him all this way over recent years. It’s been quite a journey and every time I see him / them play, it’s a bigger venue, with the 800-capacity Irish Centre sold out tonight.
I like Hamish’s confidence in his work – the way he plays the first five songs of the new album in the same running order to start. He knows we’ll like them. The songs show a maturity, a move to what seem to be slices of a diary (his? imagined?) as well as the word-play and newly coined metaphors we expect. In fact he plays three-quarters of the new album and four or five each from the previous two, dwelling on the big-hitters – Rest and Veneers, Calls To Tiree, Think of Us Kissing, etc. These are big catchy songs that have wormed their way into our ears and stuck.
The show gets heavier, rockier and faster as we hit the last few songs. ‘Men Like Wire’ has deepened; “it has taken on different aspects as we tour and we really like it”, Hawk tells us, as if proud of a child. The biggie, ‘The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973’ sees athletic spinning and pirouetting before the funky ‘Caterpillar’ has the band grooving hard. It’s a great band, one that he’s mostly had for quite a while and are part of his success. The bass sounds are chunky and solid with the bassist adding Beautiful South-ish vocals to one song. The electronics / guitar / percussionist adds high backing vocals and an interesting selection of guitar chops. The other guitarist, Andrew Pearson is his songwriting partner (with Stefan Maurice, drummer) and provides the traditional guitarist look, weaving about, throwing excited poses as he drives the songs.
The whole thing, as ever, hinges on Hamish Hawk’s remarkable baritone voice, an excitable young Scott Walker, and it is a continuing joy to hear it deliver literate lyrics full of cultural references and sideways emotional pokes. The fact that it comes along with someone who thanks us warmly and genuinely for our presence, telling us that he feels welcomed, makes us glad to reciprocate with warmth and appreciation. I feel a little torn – I’d like to keep Hawk in small venues where I can enjoy the intimacy but, equally, it’s hard to think of someone who deserves greater success more than Hamish Hawk.
Some of our previous thoughts on Hamish Hawk’s gigs and albums:
https://www.vanguard-online.co.uk/hamish-hawk-angel-numbers-literate-wise-gentle-and-funny/
https://www.vanguard-online.co.uk/hamish-hawk-heavy-elevator-literate-wise-gentle-and-funny/