Hawksley Workman: Dwindling Beauty
This advance cut from a new album quickly builds in intensity, and the theatrical vocals match imaginative lyrics.
By Kerry Doole
Hawksley Workman - Dwindling Beauty (let’s fake our deaths together) (Isadora Records): The prolific and always intriguing singer/songwriter/producer (and member of Mounties) will release a new album, Less Rage More Tears, on Oct. 23, now previewed with this single. It is the third taken from the album and is produced by Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire, The National).
The song begins in gentle fashion, with Workman’s distinctive voice emoting atop a subdued musical backdrop, but it quickly builds in intensity to a full-blooded sonic workout. The theatrical yet convincing vocals are perfectly matched to his imaginative lyrics – “Let's fake our deaths together, In the dwindling beauty, Let the boredom kill.”
Nothing boring about this track or its creator.
During this pandemic period, he debuted the first episode of Hawksley Night in Canada in May, an entertaining, handmade and hand-curated, 75-minute music and variety show live-streamed from Peterborough, Ontario that is described as "Tommy Hunter meets PeeWee’s Playhouse."
The concept has been years in the making but the lockdown afforded time for its execution. In a label press release, Workman recalls that “On March 12, during a couple of days off from a tour with Sarah Slean, I performed two sold-out shows at Paris, Ontario’s Dominion Telegraph theatre. The next morning, I hopped on a tour bus with Sarah and the rest of the band and crew to continue our tour together. Cities across Canada were starting to ban public gatherings, and when we pulled into the loading dock of Ottawa’s Shenkman Centre we got the final word that the show had been cancelled, so the bus turned around and we all headed home. Over the next 24 hours, the rest of the tour was postponed, and by the end of the following week, all of my live shows through to the end of 2020 were being rescheduled. What better time than the present to reprise the Hawksley Night in Canada idea.”
The seed for Hawksley Night in Canada was planted in the early ’90s when a teenaged Workman had a television show on the local Maclean-Hunter public access station in Huntsville, Ontario.
The first three episodes of Hawksley Night in Canada were very well-received, selling thousands of tickets to date and drawing Top Trending status on Twitter. The next live stream of Hawksley Night in Canada is Sept. 25 at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET. Tickets are $12 and available to purchase here
The hefty Workman discography now stands at 16 releases, while his production skills have been tapped by Sarah Slean, Serena Ryder, Tegan and Sara, Hey Rosetta!, and Great Big Sea. He has won two Junos, but the sense remains that his immense and idiosyncratic talent still deserves more recognition here.
Links
PR: Listen Harder - Cristina Fernandes
Booking Agent: Paquin Artists Agency, Julien Paquin
Management: Jennifer Cavanagh, Isadora Records
