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H Hawkline – In The Pink Of Condition

  • Published in Albums

H Hawkline is cool. Really cool. The Welshman has relocated from Cardiff to L.A. via Lundy Island, he has cheekbones and hair to die for and celebrity friends who include Sweet Baboo, Gruff Rhys and Cate Le Bon. It is the latter who is on the knobs producing his debut long player for Heavenly – how cool is that? Very, in case you were in any doubt. The momentum is well and truly behind H Hawkline in general and In The Pink Of Condition in particular. Great things are forecasted here… but are not delivered.

Well not in full at least, as this record feels strangely unengaging and underwhelming at times. It is monochromatic in sound and outlook; 50 shades of grey and only a few of them titillating. H Hawkline describes his work as “strange pop” suggesting it is otherworldly, odd and absurd. Not quite. Strained pop would be a little closer to the truth on occasions. In reality the sound is an effective re-tread of new wave musical poses delivered with a knowing wink. The atonal guitar sound needles away, the rhythm shuffles, the vocal is flat and buried deep in the mix most of the time. At its worst it goes nowhere and offers little of interest. As a piece of work it seems curiously content with itself; never straining to extend itself beyond self-imposed limits, rarely taking risks. In The Pink Of Condition is overtly self-absorbed, gazing out of the window at the constant drizzle, burbling away to no-one in particular. To mangle a phrase it will say little to you about your life.

This is a shame as there is clearly something going on which suggests this man has ability and knows his way round a tune. ‘In Love’ is a chugging pean whose shimmering guitar vibrates in aching contrast to the melancholic vocal and bittersweet piano, wants and needs out of kilter leaving a keenly felt yearning. It is the clear highlight of the record. ‘Moons In My Mirror’ opens out into a fine chorus with a trim phone like guitar motif which is irritatingly catchy and stays with you long after the song has moved on. ‘Ringfinger’ is notable for lifting the pace and scurries along entertainingly. (This in great contrast to the majority of the songs on offer here which pass by at a rate which a hearse would consider pedestrian.) More than anything ‘Ringfinger’ is the catchy, spiky post-punk that you feel H Hawkline is seeking to emulate here. Influences like Wire, Magazine and The Only Ones seem clearer and more to the fore and the song is the better for it.

Aside from ‘Ringfinger’ it is an album that curiously bends time, slowing the passing grains of sand to stretch seconds and minutes – this is not a compliment. ‘Dirty Dreams’ is a dull dirge. ‘Spooky Dog’ is tiresome, plodding away like a grey Sunday with the WiFi down. Similarly ‘Back In Town’ has little to say or do and greatly outstays it’s welcome. As these final two songs come at the back end of the album it does make you wonder if there was some kind of pressure to get the damn thing over and done with. H Hawkline’s flat vocal does not help a lot of the time nor do the lyrics which set out for some wilful need for the mundane. “I am a moronic morose” runs a line on ‘Moons in My Mirror’ and you can’t help but agree. The point of the mundaneness is surely ironic, a tongue in cheek downplaying of rock cliché. But the comedy just doesn’t come off. There can be magic in the celebration of the ordinary and this can be funny if, crucially, there is a sincerity there. Sadly this seems absent. 

Overall this is an underwhelming record which does not stay with you after you have played it or begs you to play it again. H Hawkline will go on to create much better pieces of work as he clearly has talent. The need is for him to stretch those creative muscles, shake off some of the greyness and let some sunshine in. Contrast and difference are needed, something that lifts the torpor that is all too evident here. H Hawkline may well be cool, but the likelihood is that In The Pink Of Condition will leave you cold.

In The Pink Of Condition is available from amazon and iTunes.

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