Edinburgh’s Hamish Hawk returns today with news of a much-anticipated new album, “Intriguer / Tenderness”, (pre-order here) the follow-up to 2024’s “A Firmer Hand”, an Album Of The Week at The Quietus and much-lauded elsewhere.
The 10-song “Intriguer / Tenderness” is defined by two opposing, and often warring voices, that of Intriguer, remote, charismatic, aggressive and grandiose; and Tenderness, pliant, troubled and dewy-eyed. The album concerns the places they collide, and the sparks that fly when they do. The relationship is violent, and romantic, and within it there are seductions, infidelities, confessions and power games. The album as a result deals in lust, deceit, ambition, consent and pain.
To introduce these two opposing voices, Hamish Hawk is releasing a single from each today, the punk-funk strut of “Ice-like Empty” and the synth driven, self-flagellating title track, “Intriguer / Tenderness”.
Intriguer sings “Ice-like Empty”, from a world of his own invention, one of arched eyebrows, pride and recklessness. The brazen frontman revels in his good fortune and notoriety, all the while cackling, poking fun at the adoring crowds. It’s a cold, calculating kind of groove, and it just don’t quit.
“Intriguer/Tenderness” on the other hand is a song of pain, toil and mania. Tenderness has been so brutalised, so corrupted by Intriguer that when he falls out the other end of the spiral, he is speaking Intriguer’s words, dressed in his clothes.
In Hamish’s words: “It’s a song that I’m immensely happy with; it was a catharsis, and one that helped me to understand where the album begins and ends, and its thematic limits.”
In support of the new album, Hamish and his band will play the following of instore and out-store dates:
Friday 2nd April – Rough Trade East, London
Saturday 3rd April – Resident, Brighton
Sunday 4th April – Banquet, Kingston @ Circuit
Monday 5th April – Rough Trade, Bristol
Tuesday 6th April – Rough Trade, Nottingham
Wednesday 7th April – Jacaranda Baltic, Liverpool
Thursday 8th April – Crash, Leeds @ Wardrobe
Thursday 22nd April – Assai, Glasgow @ Saint Lukes
Friday 23rd April – Assai, Edinburgh @ La Belle Angele
Saturday 24th April – Assai, Aberdeen @ The Tunnels
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