Album Review: Hawk - Fly

Sometimes a name is all it takes to get us to listen to a record we otherwise wouldn't know about, or wouldn't have at the top of our to-do list. When an album like "Fly" comes along, it gets added to the list of records to consider, knowing I may never get to it. But when the description mentioned that the band features Pete Thomas, the drummer from The Attractions (of Elvis Costello fame), I was more interested in hearing what it had to offer. That might not be the best of reasons to arrive at a destination, but I've taken odder detours to get placed I'm glad to have found.

The album kicks right off with a power-pop feel and overlapping vocals. It has a shimmering, summery vibe, but it might have been a more effective opening to give me one vocal to focus on, rather than starting with a sensation the album is unfocused. Between that, and the production that puts those vocals a bit too far back in the mix, it's hard to grab onto the tune. There are hints of old albums The Attractions featured on, but the song is lacking a strong enough structure, and a memorable enough melody for the four minutes it cycles around the same motifs.

That tendency is heard many times throughout the album. The songs seem to circle endlessly around a single idea, with little dynamics in each song to differentiate the sections. That leaves most of these songs sounding like a single idea stretched out and repeated, usually past the point of my patience. The guitars are fuzzy enough to be indistinct, and the vocals disappear into the mix, so it's hard to even tell what kind of potential these songs could have.

For being an album you could call power-pop, there isn't much power to the music, and the melodies aren't sticky like good pop either. It's all second-rate, bluntly written material that doesn't make much of a case for why we're listening to it. There isn't a single song here I'm ever going to find myself humming. To be honest, I'm not going to remember any of them once this review is published and I don't have to think about the record again. It's sort of like one of those glowing logs you put in a fireplace to give the appearance of burning wood. It might look ok from afar, and you get the idea, but it lacks any of the spark or passion that comes with the flames.

This whole record feels like a set of rough demos that a producer would use as a starting point to craft something better. I don't like saying this, but the record is bland and toothless. Other than having a nice laid-back sensation, there isn't anything going for it. I won't insult it by calling it 'muzak', but you get what I'm saying. "Fly" doesn't soar, that's for sure.