Hamish Hawk is on the rise again following 2021’s stellar debut LP, Heavy Elevator, and a huge follow-up in 2023’s Angel Numbers. August 2024 saw the Edinburgh artist return with his not-so-difficult third record, A Firmer Hand.
“It’s funny, the word literary tends to follow me around… As do words like ‘wordy’ or ‘verbose’” Hawk says with a chuckle, a sound system is sprawled out in the background of his Zoom window. “As much as I read frequently, I go through feast and famine with it.” He takes a pause to consider the next words, stroking his chin like a he’s considering something much more weighty: “I’m more of a collector. And I suppose my writing process reflects that. I carry around a lot of notebooks. As I walk through my life I collect phrases or bits of conversations I eavesdrop upon.”
Take any number of Hawk tunes and you’ll find a litany of complex lyrical twists and intriguing wordplay. This is none more apparent than in A Firmer Hand, which feels like classic Hawk undercut with much darker, brooding themes of love and lust. “I like to be on the lookout, even if I’m not actively writing. It’s by far the most important phase.” He pivots to a love of Jarvis Cocker, specifically the song ‘Further Complications’, from Jarv’s 2009 album with the same name. “There is a lyric in that song, ‘Don’t write a novel, a shopping list is better’. As much as I might spend my time reading high literature – or films, or tv – I will find just as much inspiration and colour from sort of, kitchen skink conversations.” The beauty in the mundane is something that Hawk has down to a tee, and those “kitchen sink” conversations make up an important part of Hamish Hawk’s output – they play into that relatable charm of what makes his thing work.
“When you’re in that flow state of writing, it doesn’t feel like you’re engaging with it at all. It feels like the words just come to you, sometimes,” he pontificates a little further. “It’s a sensation that I can’t really trust, or rely upon, but sometimes fragments of what I write become clear six months later, and the whole thing unlocks itself for me.” Hawk is keen to reiterate that most of his inspiration is derived directly from music, though. “I’m such a music fan. I’ve never not been, and so much of what I create comes from the music I consume.” It’s refreshing to hear an artist so open about his process, and his music appreciation is a cornerstone of what Hawk creates.
He’s currently halfway through reading ‘How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir’, by Safiya Sinclair, something which Hawk has at his side already. He chats through reading Salman Rushdie’s book about his knife attack, which mentions the Sinclair book. Hawk himself is an open book; his literature and musical tastes are there for all to see and it is certainly possible to create a narrative throughline based on his library or record collection alone.
We pivot back to Jarvis Cocker, specifically Cocker’s book ‘Good Pop Bad Pop’: “I say this with all love for these books, but sometimes you just can’t engage with a coffee table style book. This book, however, is so pretty and so well written. His voice is so great, it’s an amazing Pulp history too.” The ‘Jarv’ connections run deep, and everything from Hawk’s onstage presence to his lyrical vernacular reflect an appreciation for the Sheffield star.
The conversation rambles around back to new album A Firmer Hand and how Hawk perceived the record in it’s conception. “There is a song on it called ‘Questionable Hit’, which was written around the same time as Angel Numbers. I thought it might go on the record, but this tune was a bit of an outlier. I felt there was a new tone to it, which was a little petty and a bit of me lashing out. Immature, even.” He speaks on how the cut intrigued him and how Hawk was even nervous to present such a track. “If the people who it’s about hear it… it’s gonna make me look petty,” he chuckles knowingly. “I later wrote the words to ‘Machiavelli’s Room’, which spooked me more than anything”. It’s intriguing to learn how the birth of a record played out in Hawk’s own head, and the way he was presented with such a new tone: wrangling with it, performing it and eventually recording it.
It’s safe to say Hamish’s generosity with his process is reflected in his work: the songs he wrote for this record. By the time it comes to the record as an entirety, Hawk is fully embracing of this Machiavellian character he’s forged for himself. “There was a kind of crossroads – do I clean these songs up for an imagined other, or do I really forge ahead with this? Once the first few were finished, it became clear that these songs wouldn’t sit comfortably on something like Angel Numbers, and that it would have to live up to this song [‘Machiavelli’s Room’]. This album made itself known that it was going to be what it was”.
“When I listen to the record now, it doesn’t sound like a list of petty grievances. It sounds like a hit list… Not a hit on someone, to be clear.” Hawk laughs at his unintended self-aggrandising, “It’s a mature record, it’s more direct and it’s also self-assured. It’s not hiding behind artifice or trying to people-please.” The self-confidence on show was perhaps bourne of a turbulent internal battle on what these songs would be, but Hawk shines throughout and A Firmer Hand is an unabashed reflection of who he is and how his relationships collide with his world.
