EP: Hawk - 'Clock Hands' - GigslutzGigslutz

With twinkling guitars, heavy drums, Kate Bush-inspired vocals and a Björk-esque quirkiness, Hawk’s Clock Hands EP is beautifully haunting. The title track is reminiscent of Haim, but carries an ambient, somewhat Hispanic-sounding backing; it’s simultaneously dreamy and powerful as Julie Hawk’s vocals compellingly carry the rest of the band.

There’s a definite sinister tone to the EP; the instrumentation and Hawk’s vocals alone creating a somewhat hair-raising tone, combined with lyrics such as “Fill my heart with gasoline”. The band take their gentle, acoustic and very classic sound and twist it, very cleverly. It’s inventive, without being unnervingly weird, and Hawk manage to strike the perfect balance between sweet and sinister. The third track on the EP, ‘Footsteps’, strips it back as the drums fade out to let Julie’s vocals and the spiralling guitars truly shine through. Despite it being gentler, there remains an occasional harshness in Julie’s voice: described as “brilliant bonkers”, she doesn’t let us forget this.

The band show off their post-punk influences with fourth track ‘Hush’, in contrast to both the previous track and the track’s title. It picks it up from the purely dreamy ambiance of ‘Footsteps’, letting the heavy, steady beat have its moment. The vocals become less prominent, but the occasional lulling is more than welcome and, even if it’s just the beautifully melodic ‘ahh’s in the background, they definitely give the track depth.

Finishing on ‘Guardian’, the EP closes on a breathtaking note. Whilst there’s a fear that there’s only so far you can go with quirkiness of this sort, Hawk’s blend of folk and post-punk is truly mesmerising and, with their apparent skill and creativity, there’s no doubt they will continue to amaze.

Clock Hands is released today (23rd February) via Veta Records.

Melissa Svensen

@MelYeaahh