Hamish Hawk - Scala, London, 5/2/2023

  by Mark Rowland

published: 26 / 4 / 2023

intro

Mark Rowland at The Scala in London watches rising singer-songwriter Hamish Hawk play an exuberant post-punk set to promote his new album ‘Angel Numbers’.

At the release of his previous album, ‘Heavy Elevator’, Hamish Hawk was playing the Sebright Arms – a nice, but fairly small venue. Now, he’s headlining the Scala, and the place is packed. It’s a sure sign of how quickly Hawk is rising. He and his band have put the years in, releasing several albums before ‘Heavy Elevator’ started getting wider interest, and it shows. The band are tight and clearly having a great time, and Hawk struts and jerks around the stage like he owns it, his movements best summarised as ‘Ian Curtis, but having a great time’. The band is in town promoting the big, bombastic ‘Angel Numbers’, which takes the elements that make ‘Heavy Elevator’ great and puts them in IMAX – bigger, more epic, and, in some cases, louder. Hawk pulls almost exclusively from ‘Angel Numbers’ and ‘Heavy Elevator’. Opening with ‘Dog-Eared August’, an upbeat moment from the former, the band tears through ‘Elvis Look-Alike Shadows’ and ‘This, Whatever it is, Needs Improvement’, before slowing the pace with ‘Bridget St John’, ‘Rest & Veneers’ and ‘Daggers’. This ratio of two ‘Angel Numbers’ tunes to one ‘Heavy Elevator’, continues throughout the night. The crowd is energetic and appreciative, feeding off the band’s energy, which in turn feeds off of them. Hawk is a charismatic presence, quipping occasionally between songs. Confident and at times self-deprecating, he channels a classic sort of showmanship alongside his angular, post-punk dance moves. Hawk debuts a new song, ‘You Can Film Me’, which turns out to be a highlight of the set. Their spirited version of Talking Heads’ ‘Thank You For Sending Me an Angel’ leads into closer ‘Caterpillar’ its propulsive rhythms and semi-chanted vocals closing the proceedings perfectly. On the strength of this showing, it’s certainly feasible to expect Hawk to be filling out a much bigger venue the next time he passes through town.

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