The Hawkins – Live In The Woods
Release Date: 29th January 2021
Label: The Sign Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Rock N’ Roll
FFO: The Hives, Royal Republic, GoldMinds.
Review By: Paul Franklin
If it hadn’t been for that scabby winged rodent bastard in China, Swedish band The Hawkins wouldn’t have had to rethink their plans. They wouldn’t have decided to record some of their favourite tracks from their latest album live. And we wouldn’t have this frankly superb seven track EP.
Obviously frustrated with the lack of live gig opportunities the band took it upon themselves to show exactly what they are capable of. Partly recorded deep in the Swedish forests, partly in an abandoned barn and partly in a brewery (kudos to that!), the band members took responsibility for the mixing and mastering themselves. The result – a damn near faultless encapsulation of a band just absolutely nailing it!
The seven tracks from Silence Is A Bomb, that were already catchy as hell, have just come alive. The sound is looser, but it remains tonally rich and buzzes with the combined energy of all concerned. If the studio versions of these tracks were in standard 2D, the versions on Live In The Woods are the fully immersive IMAX 4DX experience with motion seats and the full gamut of special effects.
The obscenely catchy Hilow pours out from the speakers with such a warm and welcoming tone, it feels like you have walked into your favourite pub after a long day to find a table of your mates and a fresh pint waiting for you. In contrast, within the first few notes of Libertine they light the fuse under the song, then wait as the spark snakes its way towards the chorus where it goes off like a fucking petrol bomb.
In the video for the raw White Stripes-esque Stranger In The Next Room, where the band play in a square facing each other, you can really see their group dynamic in action and how, fuelled by the shared energy, they ramp up the punky aggression of the recorded track.
Absolute highlight is the pedal-to-the-metal charge through the bluesy-punky stomp that is Cut Moon Bleeds. Towards the halfway point the music drops away, leaving vocalist Johannes Carlsson to quietly inform you, in an almost subliminal way, that “This is the best thing that you have ever heard.” A bold and, some might say arrogant, statement, but he might just have something. This has been on pretty much constant rotation since it dropped in my inbox. If it had been released last year it definitely would have been on my best of the year list (probably at the top!) and, although we’re only in January, I’ve got a strong feeling it’s going to be in the running come December.
(5 / 5)
