Dan Haywood's New Hawks
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Dan Haywood's New Hawks

Lancaster, England, United Kingdom | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | INDIE

Lancaster, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2010
Band Rock Folk

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Wire"

“This strong, 32-song album is positively livid with ideas and resists easy categorisation” - Wire


"The Fly"

“Epic...fervent and profound” - The Fly


"Shindig"

“A lifework in its extensive meditations” - Shindig


"24/7"

“Defiantly individual...Surely a future cult classic, its raw takes on folk and country are a timeless delight” - 24/7


"The Line of Best Fit"

“A grand, definitive statement...sacrificing none of his unique poetic elegance for the sake of either conformity or convention” - The Line of Best Fit


"The Independent on Sunday"

“Charmingly, it succeeds in being both engaging and oddly uplifting while also being as dour in texture as a North Sea shoreline” - The Independent on Sunday


"Uncut"

“A wild-eyed mix of cosmic country and chamber-folk...makes for a thrilling noise” - Uncut


Discography

SBR001
Dapple (2013)
CD

VAN252
Field Notes: Live in Britain (2012)
Hand-numbered CD, limited edition of 300

VAN240
John's Shoes (2011)
Blue vinyl 7", limited edition of 300

TMBR015
Dan Haywood's New Hawks (2010)
180g triple vinyl in box, or double CD, with lyrics & photography booklet

Photos

Bio

Given that Dapple could be set in the 18th century, I was keen for there to be no motor vehicle noise, just in case the listener might prefer to imagine it that way. So the locations had to be out of the way, and some of the sessions started as early as 4am to beat the sound of the Abbeystead gamekeepers Land Rovers and Bowland farmers tractors. Days on which the breeze might gust above 5mph were avoided, which was good for reducing wind noise and for a preponderance of midges.

In the spring sessions the air was alive with birdsong, and youd wade into that set and make a small territory and start singing yourself, just a thread in a tapestry. Theres a list of avian background singers and scene-stealers on the sleeve. Later sessions could be deathly quiet and the molestation of the air was all our doing, like on the post-dusk title track, when the frightened words seemed to flash up in a pitch-black anechoic chamber. Rather than Miltons darkness visible, its darkness audible.

I spent half a decade making a very long-playing record called Dan Haywoods New Hawks, which was largely a place-specific and time-specific suite of songs, set in places in the Highlands of Scotland where I lived and worked in the early years of the 21st century. There were huge flights of fancy and trips around the globe, but it always returned there a 32-part love song to Caithness and Sutherland. But as a suite, Dapple is a love letter to rural England, although it sometimes perhaps sounds a little Danish or Austrian or Hungarian.

New Hawks involved many musicians, and had a few snatches of library recordings of Highland birds and so forth. At the time, we were working in increasingly larger buildings like churches for spatial effects. So it seemed to be the next step to record in the outdoors and be part of the ambience rather than add that in. My New Hawks bandmate, the inimitable Mancunian composer and multi-instrumentalist Paddy Steer, had picked up a 70s mono Nagra, a portable tape recorder used in film and radio, which audiophiles maintain is of the highest fidelity. I nagged him to help me with an al fresco project.

Obviously I needed players who could work fast and sound good, and who werent addicted to post-production or overdubbing because none of that was available; it was all live and set in stone. So we have Mr Steer, Andy Raven, Therese Standish, Richard Turner and Jeff Barnes, who are tasty and fearless, and all necessarily unplugged on guitars and mandolins but also double basses, drum kits and harmoniums that got heavier and heavier as we carried them up bilberry-covered hills or down ferny gullies. DH

Praise for Dan Haywood's New Hawks:

"This strong, 32-song album is positively livid with ideas and resists easy categorisation" WIRE MAGAZINE

"A wild-eyed mix of cosmic country and chamber-folk...makes for a thrilling noise" UNCUT MAGAZINE

"Charmingly, it succeeds in being both engaging and oddly uplifting while also being as dour in texture as a North Sea shoreline" INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

"A grand, definitive statement...sacrificing none of his unique poetic elegance for the sake of either conformity or convention" THE LINE OF BEST FIT

"Defiantly individual...Surely a future cult classic, its raw takes on folk and country are a timeless delight" 24/7

"A lifework in its extensive meditations" SHINDIG MAGAZINE

"Epic...fervent and profound" THE FLY

"Very far out" DC BERMAN, SILVER JEWS