Hamish Hawk will release his new album A Firmer Hand in August supported by a UK instore tour including Manchester’s Night and Day for Piccadilly Records.
The Edinburgh artist has signed to So Recordings ahead of the album release and also shared the first track from the album, Big Cat Tattoos.
Speaking about the track, he said, “Big Cat Tattoos is just one of the great unsaids that make up the new record, and it’s the birthplace of the album’s title: A Firmer Hand. Unknowingly I’d been building up an ugly arsenal of great unsaids over the past few years, and the album became a place I could offload them, and with any luck put them to rest.
“I tried to avoid cleaning things up at the time of writing, I cornered myself into a warts-and-all approach. But don’t be fooled, Big Cat Tattoos is all talk. Our hero gets a few barbs in nice and early, and lands a couple of clumsy jabs, but in the end we’re witness to nothing more than a petty diatribe. It’s embittered, unbecoming and wholly embarrassing. It does have a certain get-up-and-go, though.”
12-track A Firmer Hand marks the follow-up to Hamish Hawk’s 2021 breakthrough album Heavy Elevator and 2023’s Angel Numbers. It’s an album which, he explains, takes on the sense of the unsaid and not hiding. “Writing this album, I opened up my closet, and a skeleton came out” he elaborates. “The thing that links all of the songs is a sense of the unsaid, whether out of guilt, shame, repression, embarrassment, coyness, whatever it might have been. I realised: I am going to say these things, and not all of them are going to make me look good. The album made so many demands, and I just gave myself over to it.
“Once I’d given myself over to the idea, I thought, I have to stick to this. I can’t hide anything from it. I can’t clean it all up for consumption. It felt uncomfortable for me – and that’s exactly how it should feel. That’s a really strong position.”
Hamish Hawk releases A Firmer Hand on 16 August 2024.
When does Hamish Hawk perform at Manchester’s Night and Day?
Hamish Hawk performs at Manchester’s Night and Day for Piccadilly Records on 15 August 2024. The Manchester gig is one of 14 UK date he is performing in support of the album release:
4 August – Barnsley, Underneath The Stars Festival
13 August – Kingston, Pryzym @ Banquet
14 August – Leeds, The Wardrobe @ Crash
15 August – Manchester, Night & Day @ Piccadilly Records
16 August – Bristol, Rough Trade
17 August – London, Rough Trade East
18 August – Nottingham, Rough Trade
19 August – Liverpool, Rough Trade
20 August – Oxford, Jericho Tavern @ Truck
21 August – Southampton, Vinilo Record Store (Afternoon)
21 August – Portsmouth, The Brewery @ Pie & Vinyl (Evening)
22 August – Brighton, Resident
23 August – Kettering, Green Belt Festival
24 August – Birkenhead, Future Now Weekender
Manchester gigs – Hamish Hawk – image courtesy Michaela Simpson
