Richard Hawley Coles Corner CD

If David Lynch made movies in England, Richard Hawley would likely provide the soundtracks. The British singer/songwriter worked as a guitarist for Pulp and others before emerging as a distinctive solo artist, but the series of albums that began with his 2001 debut full-length, LATE NIGHT FINAL, have proven Hawley to be a truly singular artistic figure. With a smooth, deep croon that suggests Ricky Nelson giving Mark Lanegan voice lessons, Hawley turns out a hushed, lonesome sound that pays homage to elegant '60s pop/rock a la Roy Orbison and Johnny Rivers. COLES CORNER is as fine an exemplar of Hawley's approach as one could want, as twangy, reverb-heavy guitar lines dance around sparse orchestrations and gentle compositions full of satin-bedecked loneliness. Pitched perfectly in a sonic spot triangulated by Chet Baker's vocal albums, Sinatra's ONLY THE LONELY, and the bachelor-pad pop of the Burt Bacharach/Jimmy Webb school, the wee-hours sound of COLES CORNER suggests that, in the right hands, melancholy can be downright fun.

Recording information: Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield, England.

Photographer: Gareth James.

Arranger: Richard Hawley.

Personnel: Richard Hawley (vocals, acoustic guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, Hawaiian steel guitar, Spanish guitar, baritone guitar, hammer dulcimer, lyre, piano, omnichord, vibraphone, glockenspiel, drums, steel drum); Richard Hawley (6-string guitar, 12-string guitar, lap steel guitar); Colin Elliot (baritone, baritone guitar, piano, upright bass, electric bass, percussion, background vocals); Shez Sheridan (acoustic guitar, acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, 6-string guitar, 12-string guitar, baritone guitar, background vocals); Gaynor Sutcliffe, Gaynor Sutcliffe (violin); Simon Graham, Simon Graham (viola); Johnny Woods (upright bass); Lizz Lipscombe, Susannah Simmons, Lizzie Ball (violin); Naomi Koop (viola); Liz Hanks (cello); John Trier (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, vibraphone, glockenspiel); Andy Cook (drums).

Audio Mixers: Richard Hawley; Mike Timm; Colin Elliot.

Uncut (p.110) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Hawley resurrects ghosts of music past and breathes new, poignant life into their forms."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.58) - Ranked #10 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[Hawley] hymned his native Sheffield in purring, broken tones and wry, subtly-charged commonplaces. Genius."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[A] glorious m‚lange of love, loss, regret, homesickness and romance....This record is endowed with a quality that's all his own...