Standing At The Sky's Edge (LP + CD)

The cover of Richard Hawley's Standing at the Sky's Edge reveals that something very different is afoot. Given the string-laden, heart-wrenching balladry of Truelove's Gutter, and the orchestrated, tender cibachrome glimpses of a simpler life in and around his native Sheffield on Ladysbridge and Cole's Corner, this is a kick in the head. Hawley has brought his guitar and a basic rock band setup back to the fore on this album, and his references come from the late '60s. Its production is highly textured, expansive, and aggressive. Opener "She Brings the Sunshine" begins slowly with a tamboura, a bluesy, distant guitar solo, a sitar, and even a violin adding a raga feel. But a thudding bassline and the kit-crash less than a minute in make it all a cacophonous throb. It's pure psychedelia with all manner of sonics blurring inside the mix (he calls them "rocket sounds"). Hawley offers a squalling guitar break in the middle (one of many fine ones on this set).The title cut commences with an organ, an acoustic resonator guitar, a simple bassline, and hypnotic tom-toms. As the track builds, Hawley adds a lilting hook in the refrain of his close-cropped melody. His gorgeous baritone voice is right up in front of the sonic attack; his poignant lyrics, featuring three narratives about biblically named characters -- Joseph, Mary, and Jacob -- who respond to insurmountable difficulties) are made more so by the forceful, dramatic accompaniment -- Dr. John's "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" is referenced in the last third. Hawley uses psychedelia in much the same way Paul Weller did on Heavy Soul: as an extension of his songwriting, pushing his basic rock & roll chops to create songs with a sense of urgency. He gets downright raw on "Down in the Woods," openly copping the riff from the Stooges' "1969" with guitars and bass blazing, surrounded by washed sonics and frenetic drums. But there are other moments here: "Seek It," a love song, carries more familiar Hawley melodic touchstones and an infectious chorus. The tender, cautionary "Don't Stare at the Sun" is elegant in its use of space and texture. "The Wood Collier's Grave" is an allegorical folk ballad about individual isolation as a consequence of stress and crisis. The scorching closer "Leave Your Body Behind You" addresses the necessity of finding a way through in the midst of the very dissolution expressed in that track. Truth is, SATSE is a political offering, one without clichéd sloganeering or self-righteousness. Hawley's subjects and protagonists are downtrodden, broken, or near despair, but very human, and he never sacrifices people for the sake of sound. By employing hard-rocking, sometimes spacey psychedelia (gloriously) to express the anger he feels as he watches the hard-won gains of history being damaged and destroyed in unsavory ways, Hawley creates an essential listen. His aesthetic is certainly apropos; possibly even brilliant. 4 / 5 All Music Guide.