Hawking, based in Vancouver, BC are an interesting breed.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I first heard of these guys from my friend April Kulscar who books just about every kind of music (excepting pop punk and metal/hardcore) at Brothers Drake Meadery, a local hotspot in Columbus, Ohio. She told me to check out Hawking, and a few months later I got to check them out in a live setting. Let me say that watching them live gives me a definite bump in appreciation for what I hear on the EP.
So, what does Hawking sound like? They would be just as home on Warped Tour as they would be touring the alt rock circuit, in my opinion. It’s been said that they sound like Foals and Two Door Cinema Club, and this is accurate. I also hear a tiny bit of ambient post hardcore influence, mostly in the vocals. And there’s a lot of math rock. So we have a cornucopia of genres that allows you to participate in the music as you wish. Wanna dance? You can definitely do that. Wanna crank the music in your car obnoxiously? You can do that too. Wanna quizzically ponder the time signatures and off kilter guitar playing, lost in thought? You can do that too. And if you were to enter this mindset while watching them live, I don’t think anyone would question your decision.
The five song EP covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time. “Safe and Sound” and “Cold Hands” are the songs that could be radio material, while the closer we get to the back end of the EP, the more wowed we are by the technical prowess of the band. The production holds back a bit on the low end, focusing more on the details of the movements in each song. As a lover of all things with a heavy low end, I kind of wish the EP portrayed a bit more muscle, but I appreciate what they are trying to do.
Hawking is touring a whole bunch this year and you should keep an eye on your local concert calendar.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/196771338″ /]Score: 3.9/5
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