On Ian Hawgood and "Wolfskin" and "Snow Roads"
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Label: Dragon's Eye, Hibernate
Year: 2009
Format: CD
From the very outset of “Wolfskin”, Ian Hawgood’s new longplayer on Hibernate, this album has been pressed firmly to my chest, caressing my ears to incredible heights of aural pleasure with its sentimentality infused by the fuzzy, snailing guitar sounds sweeping in reverse. And when the guitars come to a still and a rocking motion appears which wallows back and forth creating an air of the unending and repetitive, I lapse into a hypnosis, mesmerised by what I am hearing. Then soft strands of the sweeping guitar returns for short, fleeting fragments and as the opening track comes to an end I am reeling. Such is the composition style of Ian Hawgood on these two latest albums, creating natural experiences of being enveloped in gradually changing environments of droning sounds, field recordings and otherwise great feelings.
A trio of highlights come in rapid succession with “Black Teddy Red Flowers”, “All These Memories Are Blue Type” and “Red Rugs of Infinite Grass”. This triptych of sonic textures spread out like rich colours on canvas and create vivid images to three tracks titled to open all faucets in the listener’s imagination, inducing a warm and fuzzy feeling. The second of these has a piano much reminiscent of Goldmund, so careful and rich in detail, each tone and timbre resounds with the pressing of piano keys, repeating its daintily playful melody which I perceive as something very Japanese in style, albeit also Hauschka-esque (ed. but that might just be me!). And in conclusion the “Red Rugs of Infinite Grass” draws my association to home and our own label’s “Yoshi’s Island” by Christophe Bailleau off “Air Resort” – which is pure magic.
But let us pause for a moment to take a closer look at the creator of these soundscapes, namely Ian Hawgood, who works under several guises. A resident of Tokyo and London, he uses collected local recordings and a variety of instruments to create works centered around organic, natural tones and micro-elements, with a slow-evolving characteristic which brings a meditational aspect to the pieces. Ian Hawgood currently works as a high-school teacher and sound designer and curates the labels Home Normal, Tokyo Droning and Nomadic Kids Republic.
For “Snow Roads” we find Hawgood inspired by the departing winter, creating haunting and ravaging soundscapes to capture the feelings of solitude and isolation. Where “Wolfskin” leaves a warm and life-giving, natural feeling, “Snow Roads” stands in stark contrast, albeit inspired by nature and organic sounds, but revealing it from its desolate and colder sides, one bereft of (human) life and in which thoughts and dreams are given room for contemplation. The press release actually has the album down as warm and enveloping, but in such regard we only concur with the latter of these characteristics, as Hawgood’s drones repeatedly grow to peaks where the listener feels encompassed in sound. “Snow Roads” also includes contributions of other musicians, like El Fog on vibraphone, Celer on tingsha bells, Le Mépris and Katherine Morrice on piano, field recordings from Ben Jones and Wataru Osako. Add to that mastering by Taylor Deupree and this star-filled album should leave you in no doubt, and along with the former, both are highly recommendable. Aware of Hawgood’s talent, both as solo artist and with his keen eye to curate the house-favourite Home Normal, we will not hesitate to look for his future works around here.
