FURTHER
TO BE RELEASED ON 7TH JUNE VIA NEW LABEL BMG
WATCH THE VISUAL TO THE FIRST SINGLE, OFF MY MIND:
https://Hawley.lnk.to/offmymindPR
TWO SPECIAL LONDON SHOWS AT EARTH (EVOLUTIONARY ARTS HACKNEY)
ON 6TH AND 7TH MAY 2019
STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE MUSICAL FEATURING 20 RICHARD HAWLEY SONGS TO PREMIERE AT SHEFFIELD’S CRUCIBLE THEATRE FROM 15TH MARCH
NEW PHOTO: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/7b33obPBVE
2019 is set to be a landmark year for songwriter Richard Hawley. Not only is he due to release his eighth studio album, Further, but a musical based on a collection of his songs opens in his hometown of Sheffield. Then, there’s also the small matter of the man celebrating his twentieth anniversary as a solo artist.
Further marks a departure for Hawley who has, to date, named all his albums after Sheffield icons or landmarks. For his new album he wanted something that would capture the intention of moving forwards, but without jettisoning his past.
Optimism lies at the heart of Further, an album that was made largely in Sheffield with Hawley and his crack band, aided by co-producers Colin Elliot and Shez Sheridan.
“I really wanted to challenge myself to try to keep things relatively up-tempo and keep the songs to about three minutes long,” Hawley says openly, “I was asking myself ‘Can you get your message across like a bullet? Can you still do that?’ It’s quite a tough question to ask.”
Hawley’s challenge to himself means that Further is quite possibly his most forthright album to date, clocking in at under 40 minutes. The opening track and first single, the thunderous, Rickenbacker thrasher Off My Mind, sets the album’s direct tone. Hawley describes his approach on the track as “playing like tomorrow may never happen.” Other songs that display similar swagger include the Glam stomp of Alone, the outlaw tale that is Galley Girl and the album’s centrepiece, the grungey Is There A Pill.
Conversely, the depth and consideration applied elsewhere on the album’s 11 tracks is typified by My Little Treasures – a tune that Hawley has taken 12 years to record. The song itself is based on the deep personal experience of encountering two of his father’s oldest friends following the latter’s death in 2007, and the complexities of emotions associated with that time.
It would not be a Richard Hawley album without some sumptuous ballads displaying the man’s gift for writing the type of heartfelt songs that have made him the revered songwriter he is today. Nowhere is this exemplified more than on the beautiful, yet simple Emilina, the yearning Midnight Train and album closer, Doors.
If the space in Hawley’s music and his lyrical romanticism remain fully intact, Further is also an album that was conceived with the here and now in mind. “We’re all bombarded by so much hateful stuff at the moment that I was determined to make something that is really loving. Some of the songs definitely reflect that and deal with what’s going on,” says Hawley. “The song Not Lonely is a good example. It deals with the stage that I hope our children get to, that stage where they can have a place of their own, being able to find their own space and luxuriate in it.”
Further is the sound of a man who has very little left to prove but that still has something to say. The album reflects Hawley’s own enduring approach to life.
Further track listing:
- Off My Mind
- Alone
- My Little Treasures
- Further
- Emilina
- Is There A Pill
- Galley Girl
- Not Lonely
- Time Is
- Midnight Train
- Doors
The album will be available on CD, LP, Limited Edition Orange LP, Limited Edition Picture Disc, digital download and streaming services. Pre-order link: https://Hawley.lnk.to/FurtherPR
On Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th May Richard Hawley will play two special shows at EartH (Evolutionary Arts Hackney). Tickets are on sale from 9am on 7th March:
Monday 6th May show:
https://www.seetickets.com/event/richard-hawley/earth-evolutionary-arts-hackney-/1320512
Tuesday 7th May show:
https://www.seetickets.com/event/richard-hawley/earth-evolutionary-arts-hackney-/1320515
Hawley’s love for Sheffield is well know and this March will see the city’s affection for him reciprocated, with the opening of Standing At The Sky’s Edge, the musical that bears the name of Hawley’s sixth studio album. It will premiere at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre.
The production will feature a number of Hawley’s songs (including three unreleased pieces), continuing his journey beyond pure musical performance and into the world of stage and screen – something which he has begun with his increasing soundtrack work on films such as 2018’s Funny Cow (starring Maxine Peake) and Denmark (starring Rafe Spall and due out later this year).
Written by Chris Bush and directed by Sheffield Theatres Artistic Director Robert Hastie, the musical itself chronicles the life of three families who live on the city’s Park Hill estate across three generations. The narrative moves through the post-War optimism during which the estate was built, its decline into a no-go area in the late ‘80s, and its more recent gentrification. It is a local story that covers global issues.
——————————————–
NOTES TO EDITORS:
In the two decades that have elapsed since Richard Hawley abandoned band life full-time, first with The Longpigs and then as Pulp’s guitarist, the 52-year-old songwriter has forged one of the most singular and diverse careers in modern music.
As well as releasing a string of solo albums that have managed the rare feat of being both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, Hawley has worked with a host of impressive collaborators – friends such as Arctic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers, Elbow and Paul Weller, alongside personal heroes that include U.S guitarist Duane Eddy (his 2011 album, Road Trip, was co-produced by Richard), Shirley Bassey (for whom he wrote the smouldering ballad, After The Rain, in 2009), Nancy Sinatra, Lisa Marie Presley and British folk royalty Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson (he was an integral part of 2013’s Bright Phoebus Revisited tour). There are also bona fide pop stars such as Robbie Williams, All Saints and Texas, all of whom Hawley has played with in differing capacities down the years. His song Tonight The Streets Are Ours was featured in The Simpsons and Exit Through The Gift Shop: A Banksy Film.
For further information, please contact rob@sonicpr.co.uk
01706 853554 // 07882 882314
http://facebook.com/RichardHawleyOfficial