Hawk

Hawk is Isobelle Campbell and Mark Lanegan’s third record. The duo doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, burning out, boredom or complacency. It’s fucking awesome.

My happiness at the duo’s fantastic release is probably overshadowed only by my happiness at technology. I wouldn’t have access to the record if it weren’t for online streaming.

So this is Day Two of non-stop Hawk. (Well, I did listen to Philip Selway’s debut solo record but that was because I had been trying to get to it yday but internet was fabulously slow so this morning, when mercury-in-retrograde had yet to take full effect, I jumped at the chance. More on this later).

Oh lordy. The record opens with “We Die and See Beauty Reign” And immediately, you’ll know this is for keeps. I thought I’d be used to the combination of Lanegan’s and Campbell’s voices by now, with their records on repeat for a good three years (it’s on my ipod’s most played) but I am mistaken. There really is magic there and it will grab you every single time.

“You Won’t Let Me Down Again” is the record’s lead single and rightly so. Its energy is compelling. There’s this dirrrrty vibe to the song; as though you were on a road trip and there’s no denying the grime on your face. It might be haunting and daunting but the power is there.

Whenever “Come Undone” and “No Place to Fall” play–they play right after one another–I keep on wondering and thinking if I had friends abroad who can get me the record. Such is the sense of urgency I get from these two songs. It’s so fragile and so pretty and so raw that I can’t help but feel the need to have it for myself, pronto.

“Come Undone” is typical Campbell and Lanegan: slow, seductive, sinister. It builds elegantly, with what sounds like violins only for the song to break and return to minimum. Campbell’s twee hides behind Lanegan’s baritone and it’s perfect.

Lanegan takes front and center in “No Place to Fall.” Girls will easily wish for their boyfriends and their lovers to dedicate this to them. It’s sweet. I can listen to this repetitively and I have. These two, I believe, is the climax of the entire 13-track record.

“Get Behind Me” follows and it’s pure rock n’ roll, as though they were commanding satan to get behind them. “Time of the Season” is deceptively upbeat, but no lies are told. The duet is sinister-sounding. The contrast, which will be present in the succeeding songs, is pure.

“Eyes of Green” is a cute little number; you can tell they probably just had a good time with the track. The record ends with a very uncharacteristic “Lately.” Lanegan here is accompanied by a gospel choir that all sinister tones and eerie colors may as well be washed away. The relief you get from the ending song only makes you want to hear the earlier darker tunes.

Hawk is not for everyone, this is for sure. But if Americana is your thing and you are familiar with the duo Campbell and Lanegan, Hawk will not disappoint. If you are a follower of the Campbell and Lanegan duo, you may even think that Hawk is as compelling and as surprising as their debut. (Not to say the second record was a bust. Sunday Morning at Devil’s Dirt is a great record. It’s just that, your appreciation would have been already set by the debut record).

The question is: Where can I get this, in this third world hole?

Dear dad,

Will go through all this, before you wake up, so I can be happier, to be safe with you again

While you are away, my heart comes undone

Please wake up. Let’s just show them that miracles really happen. Please.

These Days

And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It’s just that I’ve been losing so long.

Just the exact thoughts going around my mind— you got it—these days. Jackson Browne did the original, but Nico’s version is more eloquent in conveying not so much regret as it is ennui.

These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten.
Please don’t confront me with my failures,
I had not forgotten them.

And indeed, it’s not so much regret as it is frustration. So many things I should have done, words I should have said, clothes I should have worn. This is not crying over spilled milk as it is singing away ennui…and if I may be honest, a faint tapping of loneliness.

But no worries. I’ve seen uglier kinds of aloneness. And it’s Friday. And it’s a long weekend. And I’m still walking on sunshine from last weekend. So yay.

These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my ways

four twenty plus one

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan make more authentic my mellow yellow mood this morning. It’s very good.

Anyway, when i saw this couple on The Selby, i was ambivalent about sharing them here because, well—do you ever feel like you need to keep a few things so that you can, you become legit to call them “your own”?

I’m sorry if that may sound selfish but I do get that feeling sometimes. It doesn’t mean I’m being dishonest, it just means I am unsure on my convictions regarding, hence the better thing to do is to shut up. That was the feeling I had about the first time I came across this couple on The Selby.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I think they are super cute! What makes, well, what made me ambivalent was that I thought them too cute.

Not that it’s a bad thing, being too cute. Always a good thing.

Anyway, they got married! In a city hall! At the New York City Hall! Can you hear me screaming?! See me jumping?!

Aaaand I crash.

So yeah. They got married!

City Hall Weddings, I’m a fan of city hall weddings.

Anyhooters, Check out their home! Melikey, very much.

I like the mushroom lamp here and the big letters in their kitchen below:

I am also a fan of backyard living. So the following are grrrreat:

(photos from the selby. wedding photos from a cup of jo)

Thom does Joy Div

A quick note, as this is my niece and nephew’s last today. Thom, with Atoms for Peace, does a cover of Joy Division. Awesome.