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Recommended by us on 12th August 2010
...according to our Brett on Thu 12 Aug, 2010.
These two have totally got a good thing going I reckon. Sometimes Mark'll rough up a tender, country-ish ballad of Isabel's and sometimes Isabel'll coo some femininity into one of his dark, whiskey 'n' Marlboro drenched blues numbers. Proper give and take shit. Plus it's probably a bit better for him to be hanging around the likes of her than the crazed drug monkeys of the Oliveri-era Queens of the Stoneage. That's not to say that's all they've got in their locker though, as there's a pretty wide variety of styles on this album.. The lush strings of the soully 'Come Undone' as I type are testament to that. I'm not as into the stuff they've done as a duo as I am Mark Lanegan's solo records but I reckon they're both keepin' on keepin' on very tastefully indeed and their output is undoubtedly of a consistently very high quality.
The symbol of the hawk holds a certain fascination for songwriter ISOBEL CAMPBELL. To the extent that it provides a pertinent metaphor for her new album, as well as its title. “I like the different connotations of hawk,” she expounds, “as a noun and an adjective. And the idea that to hawk also means to sell, to peddle. In folklore Hawk is akin to mercury and is seen as a messenger to the Gods. Hawks are visionaries and observers.”
Recorded in such disparate places as California, Texas, Louisiana, Denmark, Edinburgh and her native Glasgow, “Hawk”is a pan-continental affair. There’s folk, country, blues, gospel, dream-pop and a fair spoonful of Southern soul. The album also finds Campbell rejoined by MARK LANEGAN, gruff sage of Screaming Trees and Queens Of The Stone Age fame, with whom she recorded the Mercury-nominated Ballad Of The Broken Seas (2006) and the smouldering Sunday At Devil Dirt (2008). There they duetted on wounded tales of loss, lust and regret, set amid an existential land of western noir and heightened Americana.
“Hawk” - written, produced and arranged by Campbell - is altogether more expansive. Ace American songwriter WILLY MASON guests on two songs, while there’s not only a wider sweep of styles there’s often a more urgent approach. “Get Behind Me” and “You Won’t Let Me Down” are cases in point. A barrelling tune with no brakes, “Get Behind Me” is reminiscent of Dylan’s more blustery blow-outs on Highway 61 Revisited. “You Won’t Let Me Down Again” sounds more like an old desert song, complete with deliciously twangy guitar. “A crack in the mirror tells of seven years of pain /And you won’t let me down again” growls Lanegan in his inimitable baritone, while JAMES IHA, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins, plays guitar.
01. We Die And See Beauty Reign 02. You Won’t Let Me Down Again 03. Snake Song 04. Come Undone 05. No Place ToFall 06. Get Behind Me 07. Time Of The Season 08. Hawk 09. Sunrise 10. To Hell & Back Again 11. Cool Water 12. EyesOf Green 13. Lately
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