Hype can work in mysterious ways. More of a system in which all acts can exist than a force that lifts up certain artists, even the shiniest 'undiscovered gem' is not immune to it. Not that long ago, it was Elbow who benefited from not being hyped or over-exposed. 'Elbow are doing this sort of thing but ten times better', was the reaction when a particular Coldplay or Snow Patrol song became bafflingly ubiquitous, 'so why is no one buying their records?' When enough people began to voice variations of this, suddenly Elbow got massive.
Nothing had changed. They certainly hadn't changed their style - beyond a first album so gloomy it suggests all the subsequent ones are indebted to SSRIs, Elbow's music has remained pretty familiar. But now they have a Mercury prize; they have appearances on Children in Need; their specific songs blatantly designed for thousands of people to sing along to at Glastonbury are being sung along to by thousands of people, often at Glastonbury. Just like average bands like the Arctic Monkeys can become massive due to hype, average bands like Elbow can become massive due to a supposed hype-deficiency.
It maybe a surprise to some that something similar hasn't happened to Richard Hawley yet. He has written some great songs, his brilliant voice enriching his more mundane efforts and lifting up his best tracks higher. He's far from undiscovered but his songs won't have invaded many peoples space unless they've sought them out. The problem might have been Richard Hawley's muse seemingly taking him further within himself - his last album, the often-beautiful Truelove's Gutter, featured fewer concessions to arena audiences than any of his previous records, and even for fans might have been slightly lacking in hooks.
His latest, Standing at the Sky's Edge, is somewhat of a change of tack. It's big - the guitars are louder than ever, the choruses are more anthemic (the combination of these two factors makes the opening track sound a bit like Oasis), and Hawley himself is more of a presence vocally. It'd be great if this was the album which propels him beyond his faithful fanbase, but it's probably not going to be. It's a decent album, not a great one, and once you peel away the layers of electric guitar and the new volume, the songs are not vastly different to anything he's done before, and definitely not self-consciously crowd-pleasing enough to win over many neutrals.
That doesn't mean there isn't much here to enjoy. Hawley is a brilliant guitar player and a loud, expressive album like this shows that for all the comparisons to sixties crooners, he has a love for searing and piercing noise which adds great texture to many of these tracks. It's nice to see him sounding impassioned, too - as nice as 'Open Up Your Door' from the previous album is, it did represent Hawley at his most simple and somnambulist. The tracks here, including the brooding title track, give him much more to get his teeth into vocally and lyrically, and there is much less chance of this record completely washing over a listener. That being said, the fact that the middle section is the quietest and yet contains the nicest moments, including the perfect 'Seek It', means that the surrounding noise can be unwelcome, and gets you thinking of the weaknesses of the new sound that he has adopted for much of this album.
These weaknesses are quite noticeable and, for someone whose charm is often found through channelling songwriters from long ago, mark the first time he has sounded truly dated. 'She Brings The Light' is late-era bloated Britpop, its psychedelia derived from predictable imagery and a sitar, and other tracks such as 'Leave Your Body Behind You' are similar. Predictability is an unfortunate issue throughout, with songs rarely going in places you don't expect them; getting loud at the obvious points, choruses following from the verses in the expected ways, and nothing really surprising, even in the better songs. The guitars sound good and his voice is always a welcome presemnce. But this album simply represents a new sound for Hawley, not a sound remotely new to anyone else.
That said, there's enough good stuff here to constitute a decent record. It is underwhelming at times, and the new sound doesn't always play to his strengths, but it is always heartening to hear an artist worth trying something new, even if it doesn't work out. Richard Hawley isn't about to join his friend Guy Garvey on the Pyramid Stage for anything other than a guest vocal just yet, and perhaps this is for the best. A flawed but enjoyable album, Standing at the Sky's Edge shows Hawley is not resting on his laurels, and has enough promise to hint that his masterpiece, and an increase in profile, might still be ahead of him.
