Be careful what you wish for… because comparisons can be invidious. Paul Hawkins gets compared to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (which, at least, is tangible) and Tom Waits (which is utterly musically ludicrous). This is one group that will remain marginal.
We Are Not Other People starts so well. “Unexpected Error” has a curious rhythm track and an admirable sonic palette (including unusual instruments such as a stylophone), but the instant the flat monotone vocals break into proceedings the whole effect is ruined. He’s no Nick Cave in the singing department.
Paul Hawkins is no great lyricist either, despite the claims made for him. Aspiring to the cutting whimsy and jet-black humorous realism of The Divine Comedy, all he can manage is a pseudo-fey verbal diarrhoea that not only lacks melody, rhythm and tune but also resorts to chopping up clichés in an effort to look interesting. The only thing it doesn’t lack is words - the spillage of practically spoken verbiage is so full-on that even Hawkins has trouble tripping over his own tongue and pausing for breath.
Musically, Thee Awkward Silences resort to a clomping, bass-heavy, pub-rock plod: the lack of ambition is both disappointing and disquieting. On top of the horribly basic drumming the multi-instrument approach to the music seems to smack more of desperation than invention.
“There Ain’t No Carrot/There Ain’t No Stick” is a vapid attempt to do a ‘fast’ Nick Cave song - and given the recent feral blues of Cave’s Grinderman project, that seems redundant to say the least. Meanwhile, “Timing Is Everything” revels in Hawkins’ vocally tuneless meanderings and merely annoys.
“I Had A Friend In Sarah Vincent” is a long-form riposte to Cave’s “Murder Ballads” (and even references “Henry Lee”) but it lacks the ferocity, the cohesion and the simple skill of “Crow Jane” or even “O’Malley’s Bar”. “Hate Is All Around” opens like a Cave b-side and features an organ motif that will make copyright lawyers salivate.
Emulating your heroes is all very well, but the down side is that you have to be remarkable in one way or another to stand up to - or even eclipse - the originator. Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences don’t even come close.
And where the Tom Waits comparison came from is anybody’s guess!
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: anti-folk, garage, lo-fi, Paul Hawkins, pop, Thee Awkward Silences, We Are Not Other People, weird
