ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2010 No. 11 – ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN – Hawk

Now onto their third album as a working partnership, Campbell and Lanegan are proving to have significantly more mileage than could have been predicted four years ago. This is largely thanks to the dynamics of their set up, with Mark Lanegan seemingly at ease with his role as Isobel’s gravelly and menacing second-in-command. That his delivery is a well balanced opposite to her floating, delicate vocals has been proved beyond doubt before, but the achievement in ‘Hawk’ is in how it moves the partnership on from what’s gone before. Campbell is in charge of all songwriting duties aside from a couple of well judged Townes Van Zandt covers that Lanegan in particular sounds at home with, but she’s also bossing the whole picture and displaying some real production flare as she goes. Gone are the days when the paring simply laid bare her love of the records Lee Hazlewood made with Nancy Sinatra. This one blows the game wide open and it’s a mouth watering prospect to hear Campbell speak of how calling the shots in a production role feels increasingly natural to her.

What you get here is a pronounced Country-Rock hybrid pulling in subtle influences from far and wide. ‘Come Undone’, one of the best duet ballads here, pumps along with R&B piano chords and strings that’ll put a spell on you. ‘Get Behind Me’ retro rocks before ‘Time Of The Season’ shows up, a surprisingly well executed festive jaunt in the style of The Walker Brothers or the poppier, lushly produced Glen Campbell. Kind of cosy and very 1970s, it could well become a Christmas classic once the yuletide compilations start picking up on it in about 8-10 years time. ‘To Hell & Back’ finds Campbell soloing again with big juicy acoustic guitar strummed with purpose and a hollow, spacey beat recalling the Phil Spector wall-of-sound. By contrast ‘Cool Water’ is so close up on Lanegan’s sleepy voice the effect is pretty claustrophobic and intense. Closing tune ‘Lately’ swoops down brilliantly on the ‘Nashville Skyline’ sound of Bob Dylan, one of the most pleasing periods in his recording career but rarely summoned with as much joy as Campbell injects here. In the end you could pretty much call this Isobel Campbell’s calling card; whether out front or behind the desk great things are surely ahead of her. Listen to the whole of ‘Hawk’ here:

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