It's a measure of what a mesmeric performer HAWKSLEY WORKMAN is that your reviewer, photographer and colleagues were so high post-gig that they (literally) failed to locate their car. Embarrassing, but absolutely true!
This young - and totally distinctive - Canadian singer/ songwriter - tends to have that kind of effect on you, though. The first time we encountered him, 16 months back at the same venue, he was supporting CHRIS MILLS and delivered a jaw-droppingly brilliant support slot,knocking out nonchalent classics like "Don't Be Crushed" armed with only Telecaster, pinstripe kecks, waistcoat and a nice line in invisible cigarettes. No, I'm REALLY not on drugs. Promise.
Back then he was about to unleash his mega debut album, "For Him And The Girls", and tonight he' about to unveil the follow up "(Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves." He's also since hooked up with his alarmingly inventive backing group THE WOLVES and - despite the absence tonight of "Don't Be Crushed" (sorry, Geoff) - he's now got a new zipper for his pinstripe trews. Wow, things are looking up in Hawksley world.
Actually, from the moment he leans his head back to launch into the "Yo yo yo yo" chant that drives "Maniacs", you just sense that this gig is one you're gonna remember forever. I didn't really rate "Maniacs" too much on record, but tonight, it's taken slightly slower, with THE WOLVES braking on the bends and giving the song air to breathe. The fact that it ends with incredible serendipity as a glass recycling machine outside the window tips its' load with a resounding crash just as Hawksley lets go of the refrain is almost too cool for words.
Before long tonight dissolves into one of those wonderful "pick your favourite moments" experiences, such is the quality of virtually everything Hawksley wheels out for us. It's great the way he has the confidence to crunch through the Army buddy stomp of "Bullets" and the magnificent love/road song "Safe And Sound" so early on and intersperse the confirmed classics with a goodly smattering of new material. I must confess to being a tad underwhelmed by some of the things on the new album, but in concert the new material really comes into its' own.
Evidence? You got it. How about the ace "Jealous Of Your Cigarette" - perhaps the best Hawksley chorus yet? - and the way THE WOLVES hit the 3-way harmonies just right; or the surprising, almost hymnal "Old Bloody Orange"; or the slow-burning "No Beginning, No End,"closing the set proper tonight. Your reviewer's absolute highlight tonight. It's one he'll be seriously re-evaluating over the next few weeks.
|
THE WOLVES are revelatory, actually. Comprising DERRICK BRADY (bass/ vocals); DARKNESS KASPER (drums) and MR.LONELY (piano/ vocals), they augment HAWKSLEY perfectly, letting loose like THE ATTRACTIONS when necessary or holding back in disciplined BAD SEEDS tradition. Hell, drummer KASPER even looks like a more approachable NICK CAVE!
There's no mistaking the fact this is HAWKSLEY'S show through and through, however. When he straps on his Gibson Les Paul you realise how cool and economic a guitarist he is, slashing away like a young WILKO JOHNSON, but it's that voice that's the clincher. Vocally, he's just so amazing. I read journalists who are continually wetting themselves over the likes of CHRIS MARTIN or (worse) JAMES WALSH (ugh!) when there's another singular vocal and songwriting talent of -at least- the stature of JEFF BUCKLEY smirking from the wings. You fools...one day you'll catch up. I mean, just watch his mini set accompanied just by MR.LONELY'S piano. The piano/finger cymbal and angelic vocal of "Striptease" done this way have to be heard to be believed. Ah well, it always takes the greater public a while to cotton on to genius of this calibre.
Nonetheless, I can't see HAWKSLEY WORKMAN remaining anybody's best kept secretfor too much longer. In the meantime, I'd urge you to invest in both HAWKSLEY albums plus the superb "Almost A Full Moon" 8-track Christmas album you can enjoy any time of the year. Get in at the ground floor.
"Please be here until the morning," he pleads during "Stop Joking Around." Whatever you say, Hawksley. We're yours for the taking.
|
