About 5 years ago I read a stunning review in the Independent on Sunday of Canadian singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Hawksley Workman. Maybe it was the promise of tap-dancing broomsticks that convinced me but, although I'd not heard one note of his music beforehand, I went along and he surpassed my expectations. I am forever indebted to Simon Price for his review and since then, I've caught all of Hawksley's London shows which are sadly too infrequent. Hawksley is still a well-kept secret so it's a good thing for us that he appears to be more settled; he has stopped chasing the elusive dream of celebrity and, these days, is very happy to play to his elite but adoring public.
There are no tap-dancing broomsticks in evidence tonight (shame 'cos that was quite a spectacle!) - just Hawksley with a couple of guitars, and faithful sidekick, Mr Lonely, on keyboard and backing vocals. The two of them create a very powerful experience, especially with Hawksley's soaring vocal acrobatics and astounding guitar playing. He has an enraptured audience as soon as he steps onto the stage that banter with him and sing along to most of the songs, even helping out reminding him of words from the older material too. He delights us with his amusing and whimsical chatter in between songs, and occasionally stops in the middle of them too.
We hear charming stories of growing up in rural Canada, about baths with his brother (!), Magnum PI and snow blowing (similar to leaf blowing apparently), and also topics as diverse as Winston Churchill, daytime TV and games of connect4, sometimes all in the same interlude. During 'Jealous of Your Cigarette', we take a detour into Cuban music and Hawksley muses about how the "cowbell guy" in Cuban bands always got laid! His spoken thoughts, although meandering, are very endearing and never less than totally engaging.
Hawksley is happy to play requests from the crowd - there are quite a few as there are no duff tracks in his back catalogue so consequently all the songs are highlights. Tonight most of the set is taken from his first album 'For Him and the Girls' and just a few tracks from last year's release, the contemplative 'Treeful of Starling' which Hawksley has described as "hymns for a dying planet and a culture in decay". 'Ice Age', from that album, with its mournful harmonica break, encapsulates the mixture of melancholy and hope - "So maybe we'd lie down and we'd kiss there on the ground, as we're taken by the ice and in fact it might be nice, it's gonna be nice days in the Ice Age". This track and 'You and the Candles', which is his "angry protest number", are probably the most poetic songs about climate change that you're ever likely to hear.
Every tune he played was a crowd favourite, but also deserving of mention are the raunchy 'Tarantulove', Supertramp's 'Logical Song' woven into 'Paper Shoes', and 'Bullets', which he wrote for his grandfather - "...if I fall to taste the ground, and you hear that fire bell sound, don't fear, it's just the bullets bouncing off my helmet". He finishes literally on a high with a beautiful rendition of my favourite of his songs, 'Don't Be Crushed' where he holds incredibly high notes for a breath-taking length of time.
This was the second of Hawksley's dates in London (and his only UK dates on the tour), he's off to France next, then Norway and finally back to Canada. I'm hoping it won't be too long before he visits the UK again.
article by: Helen O'Sullivan
photos by: Helen O'Sullivan
published: 13/02/2007 11:57
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.