2003
Label: Setanta Records - VVR1036802 • Format: CD Album • Country: Europe • Genre: Rock • Style: Pop Rock

With that in mind, we thought it was a fitting time to cast a critical eye over his output. Mere months after that early dabble came a remarkably assured, often truly gorgeous, collection of warmly evocative lullabies. It was to be another four years before the public took much notice, but the template was established and it was time to build.

Named after an area in Sheffield, from where Hawley hails, and bolstered by tactfully applied strings, this was another stage in the gradual evolution of his sound. Resolutely melodic but shot through with a stirring sense of melancholia, these songs wash over you like the British countryside sweeping past in the hazy winter light of a lengthy train journey: a comforting sensory burst. Everything about this record is Run For Me - Richard Hawley - Lowedges (CD.

The cover art is beautiful: the blurred elderly couple in the background makes the lonely Richard in the foreground seem even more alone and anxious. And the songs. Oh, the songs! Grandiose, eloquent and lyrically full of romantic expectation, it perfectly captures that feeling of incipient affairs of the heart. Again named after an area in his home city, again featuring more lavish instrumentation and again incorporating a country twang it was a fine record, but it is the least essential of his wonderful catalogue.

But, 30 years from now, crate diggers of the world will seize upon this album in rapture. Having taken his 21st century crooner thing as far as it could go, Hawley wanted to reboot, reinvigorate and return to the guitar wielding heroics of his past.

Several deaths, both family and friend, spurred Hawley on, with much talk of wanting to pick up an electric guitar and just make some noise. With his ear for melody, it was never going to be a raggedy garage rock record.

Richard Hawley online. More Complete Guides. Header Left Sections. Enter your keywords. Popular Fashion Articles. The Specials. Follow Clash. Summer skate essentials The Skateroom. Desert Camouflage In Shibuya…. Throughout, Hawley is fond of using swooping slide and pedal-steel guitars to provide atmosphere: on "Darlin'," the slides whisper in the background like star-crossed lovers and Run For Me - Richard Hawley - Lowedges (CD "The Only Road" they hover like specters in the distance.

This album features a little more dynamic range than Late Night Final. A couple songs dial the volume up a bit: "Oh My Love" has a power ballad feel with the chorus amped up with distorted guitars and massed backing vocals and "Run From Me" has an epic wall of sound and sounds like the best Bad Seeds song in many a year. A couple tunes the chiming closer "The Nights Are Made for Us" and "I'm on Nights," which has some haunting guitar lines bop along like weird Run For Me - Richard Hawley - Lowedges (CD doo wop ballads.

All the tunes are first-rate. Hawley is a compelling mix of the pastoral beauty of English folk rockers like Nick Drake and the urban cool of balladeers like Scott Walker with a dash of the otherworldliness of Julee Cruise. He doesn't make a false step on this album.

Most likely it will be overlooked by the masses, but that's OK. They don't deserve to be hip to such a wonderfully intimate and, well, wonderful artist and record. Let's keep it a secret -- a wonderful secret. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript. Please enable Album) in your browser to use the site fully.

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