Lowedges

If someone is casting a critical eye over the music of the new millennium in 30 years time, they might credit Sheffield’s Richard Hawley with making ‘the croon’ popular once again. Then again, maybe not, because chances are in three decades time, nobody will realise that Hawley’s beautifully crafted songs don’t date from the 1950s. Hawley is a contemporary master of the sort of moody, majestic torch songs that flourished during that era.

Such is the undoubted quality and timelessness of the former Longpigs guitarist’s solo work that songs like the utterly gorgeous ‘Darlin’, ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water (Till Your River Runs Dry)’ and especially ‘The Nights Are Made For Us’ could sit easily alongside Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Roy Orbison and maybe even Ol’ Blue Eyes himself.

The blueprint hasn’t altered that much from Hawley’s previous two outings, his eponymous debut and its follow-up, Late Night Final. These are finely crafted slow songs about love (‘I’m On Nights’), loss (It’s Over Love’) and maybe even chasing a dream (‘Run For Me’), where the pace rarely rises above leisurely.

Listening to Lowedges is the aural equivalent of settling into a hot bath with a glass of red wine and maybe even a big fat joint. It is the likely to be the most restful, calming and thoroughly relaxing album you will set ears on this year.