Richard Hawley
Further
Release Date: May 31, 2019
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: BMG Rights Management
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Album Review: Further by Richard Hawley
Excellent, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
It's been four years since the release of Hollow Meadows, the longest gap yet between solo albums for Hawley. But then, he's not a man to outstay his welcome. Even when he stretched out beyond the pop radio format, as on Truelove's Gutter, his songwriting has never strayed from the point. The same can certainly be said of Further, which clocks in at a concise 35 minutes and acts as something of a primer for Hawley's wider solo career.
Based on rating 4
As Richard Hawley steps back into the ring, his first punch is the hardest. Eighth solo album Further blasts out of the corner with the sonic assault of Off My Mind, confirming the Sheffield singer is completely up for his return to the format. Although a self-styled indie kid, this is a song with its roots in garage rock, a call to arms that impresses greatly with shredded guitars and big brass on top.
Opinion: Excellent
T he Sheffield singer-songwriter's lush balladry is as trademark as his quiff and spectacles, and on his eighth solo album he seems to forever find unexpected new themes to inspire him. The gorgeous Emilina Says is an intriguing tale of love, male possessiveness and apparently early 20th-century activist/suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. Similarly, there aren't many songs in pop quite like Doors, a sophisticated, twanging ballad, ostensibly about taking psychedelic drugs.
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