Listening through the new album from Boston quintet Girl With A Hawk is like meeting up with an old friend. And that’s not just because the album is filled with a few tracks that have already illuminated the airwaves over the past year or so but more the timeless quality of not only frontperson Linda Viens’ voice but also of the band as a whole coupled with the general quality of songwriting that unifies this collection of songs together exquisitely.
And that collection in question kicks off with “Way With Words” and Nancy Delaney’s stick work before Viens’ sweet serenades and rhythm guitar collide with Richard Lamphear’s Keyboards, Daniel George Bernfeld’s Bass and Daniel Coughlin’s Lead Guitar for an emotive explosion of sound. “I’m In Love With My Friends” just brings the happy with keys out of Lamphear that’d gel with both The B-52’s and Devo and timely guest vocals from Judith Sprague (Agent Judy), Linnea Herzog (Linnea’s Garden) & Holly Kantor (Galaxy Cake) considering the song title and all! The inspiration for the shimmering “No One Like You” came about following the tragic passing of Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins yet has a message that transcends that moment while “The Fighter” is one of Viens’ many Springsteen/Petty/Dylan moments with Coughlin providing those key guitar licks and Stud Green guesting on Violin.
“Share It All” is a little bit of a palette cleanser following all of that Heavy (Intent, not sound) with a killer chorus and a serene Blues Rawk aesthetic, “Full Moon” is playful from Viens’ clever vocal cadences to the call and response moments out of the instrumentation and “Beautiful Today” is vivid in its’ storytelling and lovingly languid in its’ delivery like the final jam after a masterful set because the audience is craving just one more encore. “It’s The Way” gets in touch with GWAH’s Folk Americana feels as sanguine strums light up this expansive and atmospheric slow burn followed by lead single “Wasn’t It Just Yesterday” which is still the “sleek nostalgia fest” we raved about in our recent Singles! post and a beyond beautiful closing number.
Regenesis is out on June 19th through Rum Bar Records and the band will be celebrating the release over at The Midway Cafe the following night (That’d be June 20th) with Stop Calling Me Frank and Tad Overbaugh & The Late Arrival and you can get advance tickets for that one here. They’ll have physical copies on hand at the show but if you just can’t wait or can’t make the gig, then click here or on the stream below to reserve your copy now. And for the rest of the GWAH news, the socials are the place to be and can be found when you head here or here.