HAMISH HAWK
Angel Numbers (Post Electric)
Jarvis Cocker, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Elvis Presley… there are echoes of all these and more in Hamish Hawk’s Scottish brogue, which leaves him in very esteemed company. Angel Numbers, following on from 2021’s Heavy Elevator, has a similarly grand allusion in its title, taken from the idea of seemingly random numbers that hold hidden cosmic meaning. So what does an album sung by a moody crooner looking up at the heavens amount to?
Much like Hawk’s previous release, Angel Numbers is brimming with cavernous belters crafted, performed, and produced with the assured confidence of an artist with twice his career span. But it’s the quieter, more vulnerable moments that make him more distinctive than the sum of his influences: Grey Seals, with its “Come running to me / come running to me, please…” refrain and melancholic ebb and flow has a folkier, less pop-rock feel. A hint of what’s to come, perhaps.
words HANNAH COLLINS
Want more music?
The latest reviews, interviews, features and more, from Wales and beyond.