Hawks of Alba
Posted: May 3, 2011 Filed under: On Dit Leave a comment »
A good few years ago there lived an Adelaide band called Bad Girls of the Bible. Having played a slightly harder-edged, grunge-inflected brand of indie rock than that currently found on many of our local stages, the band dispersed to pursue some fairly eclectic new projects. Frontman Dan Pash fused with the remnants of dance-punk trio Pharaohs to form, of all, things, an alt-country band called Leader Cheetah, while others embraced low-end sounds in the twin-bass, instrumental attack of Swords. Rhythm section Sarah Masters and Aidan Moyse, however, absconded northwards.
Miles away in the frigid yet warm embrace of a reportedly vibrant Glaswegian music scene the pair made their way as a two piece under the name ‘Running With Horses’. Terrible weather aside, living and playing in Scotland proved to be something of a defining experience for Moyse and Masters. Far from falling victim to frostbite, excessive whiskey consumption or the ever-present danger of the “Glasgow kiss”, the pair found a great deal of support from Scottish audiences, receiving airplay on BBC Scotland and landing a spot on the country’s biggest annual music festival T In The Park.
Upon the expiration of their visas the duo returned to Adelaide’s creative womb and enlisted new collaborator, guitarist and current Adelaide Psychology student Hannah Fairlamb for their current guise. “Hawks of Alba is a natural progression from Running With Horses,” Moyse explains. “Our music has always been a bit poppy, but we just do whatever interests us. Although we do have our sweet moments, but it’s also pretty growly; some of new stuff is quite dirgy too. Since Hannah joined the band, and Sarah moved from guitar back to bass (what she used to play in Bad Girls of the Bible) we’ve just been enjoying noise we can make!”
Hawks of Alba’s sound harks back to the kind of sedate and occasionally fuzzy 90s pop you’d associate with hazy memories of Saturday morning Recovery. Their songs offer pleasantly sharp pop hooks delivered in girl-boy-girl vocal harmonies reminiscent of The Breeders and at a stretch Lash (remember them?) and live Moyse is known to play drums and glockenspiel at the same time. Perhaps it’s unsurprising that only months after their return the band quickly floated to the top of the local broth to be promptly scooped up by Triple J Unearthed, winning a Big Day Out slot and an enviable amount of national airplay from the youth broadcaster.
Despite having played in outfits for much of the decade, Hawks of Alba and their respective members haven’t released a whole lot, which makes rumours of an EP a particularly exciting prospect. According to Moyse the record, designated for July or August release sees the warm self-produced recordings of their early radio hits paired with new material and remixed by correspondence with Portland, Oregon resident Larry Crane, a fellow responsible for the gritty sheen in releases by Sleater-Kinney, M. Ward and the late Elliott Smith.
Recommended if you like: Magic Dirt, Vivian Girls, Evan Dando and Smudge.
Originally in On Dit Magazine Issue 79.2
