Hamish Hawk – A Firmer Hand review

It’s a frequently addressed topic, but if in the last century being a star meant comporting yourself in a star-like, don’t touch me way, then the dynamic for this one is the opposite; as a public we want to know when you cry, feel lonely, or what you think about everything, all the time.

Hamish Hawk spent almost a decade getting to the point where 2023’s Angel Numbers had finally rewarded perseverance and self belief, a record full of dry humour, contorted prose as lyrics but most importantly, some great tunes. It led to a sold out gig at Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland, but for the singer there was a personal itch, one that needed to be more than scratched on it’s follow up.

A Firmer Hand in subject primarily deals with his relationships with men; not just lovers, but friends, family and the questionable rogues his career has thrown at him. Musically in places it departs from the approachable previous formula, relying more on synths and generally carrying more weight. It shouldn’t be thought of as out of the ordinary to write songs about this stuff of course, but Hawk’s unflinching sketches are intimate and occasionally – deliberately – visceral.

At it’s best on the sardonic industry kiss off Questionable Hit, Men Like Wire, the funk sodden Big Cat Tattoos and Autobiography of Spy’s post punk confessional, A Firmer Hand brings us closer perhaps to a life than is safe for either it’s writer or the people who want all the gory details. It’s a fine record too, a tour de force, which should be the real story – and in simpler times that might well have been the case.

You can read a full review here.