Reviews
by Bliss
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I See Hawks in LA won’t be holding a proper release party for “New Kind of Lonely” until its Feb. 24 show at McCabe’s in Santa Monica. But local fans can get a preview of the new tunes this Friday when the Hawks return to the Coffee Gallery Backstage.
Cut live in the studio around three microphones, “New Kind of Lonely” is an acoustic project that highlights one of the trademark elements of the Hawks’ sound: the tightly woven harmonies between frontman Rob Waller, dobroist Paul Lacques and bassist Paul Marshall. As a band, they’ve long since proved they can rock the house, particularly during more anthemic numbers like “Humboldt,” a staple of their club sets. But their acoustic shows have generally fostered an intimacy that audiences have also relished, and those fans are likely to respond warmly to the new recording. The open space in the acoustic settings directs more attention to the richly poetic, thoughtful lyrics, which balance humor with a pervasive sense of mortality and loss.
“Bohemian Highway” opens the album on a rather contemplative note, gratefully recalling old friends and roads traveled together while suggesting they’ve all disappeared. The loving “Big Old Hypodermic Needle” bids farewell to two friends who succumbed to overwhelming demons. One of the most affecting tracks is the bittersweet “The Spirit of Death,” which contemplates time’s inexorable march and mourns late fiddler and singer-songwriter Amy Farris before giving way to a spirited fiddle solo by Gabe Witcher.
“When I was a younger man, the good times eased the way
But now the stars are falling every other day
The dreams of childhood are returning to say
Your dance is coming, better pick a tune and play…”
Elsewhere, “Highland Park Serenade” wistfully name checks Figueroa, Mr. T’s Bowl and other local sites while assessing changes wrought by gentrification and time. “I Fell in Love With the Grateful Dead” looks back to youthful discoveries with a laugh over sparkling guitar leads. The album wraps with the lovely “If You Lead I Will Follow,” a fittingly melancholy close to an album that holds up loved ones and cherished ways, even if they’ve gone out of fashion. In a culture that’s ever more fragmented, the Hawks continue to show unsentimental respect for what they believe holds lasting value: land (not real estate) and the environment, music (not the music industry) and bonds of community forged through mutual care. n
I See Hawks in LA performs at the Coffee Gallery Backstage,
2029 N. Lake Ave., Altadena, 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3; $15. Info/reservations: (626) 798-6236.
Karen Tobin and Paul Marshall open. iseehawks.com,
coffegallery.com
by Chris Griffy
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I See Hawks in L.A. is a band that has won over a ton of fans with their seamless blend of California Country-Rock and Psychedelia on their five previous albums, as well as through their strong live performances.
Of late, I See Hawks in L.A. have increasingly flirted with all-acoustic shows, hosting a one-mic acoustic series in Los Angeles’ Cole’s bar and with acclaimed tours in support of Americana superstars like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Dave Alvin, and Chris Hillman.
After years of teasing fans with glimpses of a what a stripped down I See Hawks in L.A. sounds like, the band has finally pulled the trigger on their first all-acoustic album, titled New Kind of Lonely, releasing March 6.
On New Kind of Lonely, guitarist and vocalist Rob Waller takes center stage with his dark lyrics and intricate guitar arrangements. As befits its name, New Kind of Lonely spends a lot of its running time exploring loss, both of love and of life. “Spirit of Death” explore this most achingly with the tale an aging man whose “dance is coming, you better pick a tune and play…”
But don’t think this is a funeral dirge of an album. There’s plenty of dark humor and even some hope on New Kind of Lonely. “Spirit of Death” ends on an upnote, with some dance-worthy fiddle work by Gabe Witcher that lifts the listener’s, as well as presumably the narrator’s, spirits.
But the gems on this album are “I Fell in Love with the Grateful Dead”, “Big Old Hypodermic Needle”, and “Hunger Mountain Breakdown.” The songs couldn’t be more different and show off the songwriting range on New Kind of Lonely.
“I Fell in Love with the Grateful Dead” is the tale of a Deadhead who “in ’72 I rode up the coast, on a sputtering Triumph with draft dodging freaks from my college.” It’s a nostalgic tale of a more simple time when “hippie carefree melodies filled my head where I did what I did and said what I said in the parking lot caravan of the Grateful Dead.” It’s an appropriately Jammy track, with plenty of Dead inspired guitar and bass antics
“Big Old Hypodermic Needle” tells the tale of two friend who overdose together to get “one last time for the memory of the sunset turning gold.” The arrangement on this one is interesting, oddly jaunty and dance-worthy for such a dark subject. While this could have provided a distraction in less capable hands, I See Hawks in L.A. manage to make it sound like it’s the most normal thing in the world. As with the speeded up ending to “Spirit of Death”, it reminds us that one person’s fear and dread is another’s welcome release. As the song’s final lyrics tell us “coming home’s easy when you hear the angel bell. Two sweet sisters and the sunrise, hear the angel bell.”
“Hunger Mountain Breakdown” could have been a Bill Monroe song in another era. A straight up Bluegrass number, it tells the tale of a man planning a dramatic ridgetop suicide and features some stellar instrumental work from banjo picker Cliff Wagner and fiddler Gabe Witcher.
New Kind of Lonely is a true anachronism, a thoroughly modern album that still manages to sound like it belongs alongside the dark lyrics of Hank Williams and Ralph Stanley and the tight vocal harmonies of The Louvin Brothers. It’s a lovingly crafted ode to a bygone era, where Country artists weren’t in the business of making feel good pseudo-pop songs but instead told unvarnished stories of love, loss, pain ,and death.
In a time that is often compared in the news to The Great Depression, the world needs albums like New Kind of Lonely that look back to those dark times.
New Kind of Lonely hits store shelves on March 6. An acoustic album release party will be held February 24 at McCabes with electric versions of the album’s tunes being debuted in a show March 10 at Pappy & Harriet’s.
