Album Review: I Romanticize by H. Hawkline

A s the likes of the Super Furry Animals, Cerys Matthews and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci have proven, the Welsh accent is a gift for indie music - its melodiousness and intonation are able to jerk songs out of stultifying formulas. Huw Evans' H Hawkline project is buoyed by the charm of its creator's pronunciation, but it's also full of idiosyncrasies. Evans is a one-time presenter of the Welsh-language music show Bandit (alongside Radio 1's Huw Stephens and comedian Ellis James).

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With a crack backing band consisting of longtime collaborator Cate Le Bon, Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa, and keyboardist Josiah Steinbrick helping out on his fourth album, I Romanticize, Welsh guitarist H. Hawkline has fully realized all the potential his previous albums promised. Here, he and his band smooth out some of the spiky guitar kinks of the excellent In the Pink of Condition, add some welcome synths and pianos, and fill the nooks and crannies of each song with sticky sonic hooks.

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It takes steely determination to cut your own path today, but Huw Evans' H Hawkline manages it. Even among acts you could loosely group him with in terms of sound (like Cate Le Bon maybe), his poetic lyrics, almost lysergic approach to time signatures and chords coupled with that resolutely modern ability with an earworm makes him a cut above, or at the very least, different. You'll be pleased to hear the journey continues on his third album.

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