Dan Haywood returns to Oto after a stunning set before Frank Fairfield earlier this year. This time he brings the full flock of new hawks for a rare big band set and will also deliver an illuminating pre-show talk exploring the portrayal of birds in music with reference to poetry, fine art, avian survey techniques and the epic ornithological triple concept album "Dan Haywood's New Hawks".

DAN HAYWOOD'S NEW HAWKS

A new and literate voice in British music arrives. Dan Haywood’s New Hawks are a collection of songs, and also a band, whose epic scope marries transatlantic cosmic roots music with a poetic and soulful British folk. A rambling, rolling band whose crazed stage presence, with various players swapping instruments and psychic powers amongst themselves, has already assured them cult status. This rare and special occasion sees the full 9-piece New Hawks big band gathered onstage for their first headline London date.

Haywood himself is a compelling frontal figure, orating his adventures with a certain awkward relish and a weird glint in his eye, both the court jester and king. The band is a collective of kindred spirits from across Northern England carefully assembled by Haywood to perform the 32 tracks that form their monumental debut album, and they bring flesh to the smart and ever-shifting arrangements with guitars, fiddles, cello, drums, hand percussion and more.

The album was conceived in painstaking fashion over five years as a way of documenting Haywood’s bird-and-people-watching travels around Highland Scotland. A vast modern-day Joycean folk-rock cartography with Dan Haywood as your charismatic navigator poet, and as many ruggedly beautiful crannies to explore as the Scottish wilderness it is inspired by.



Live presentations of the New Hawks have been select and special; a string of UK dates with fellow psycho-geographers A Hawk and A Hacksaw in spring 2011 and other shows with The Unthanks and Alasdair Roberts.

Autumn 2011 sees them on a headline tour to delve deep into their distinct repertoire, from this their first and final album to be released under the New Hawks name. These shows will no doubt soon become mythical occasions.

The album is currently available as a collectable triple vinyl boxset, double CD and download. A 7” single “John’s Shoes / Superquarry” will be released in November 2011 on Static Caravan.

Stream the single via Soundcloud below:

Dan Haywood's New Hawks - John's Shoes c/w Superquarry by Qu_Junktions

Dan Haywood's New Hawks - Live in Central Britain by Timbreland Recordings

“This strong, 32 –song album is positively livid with ideas and resists easy categorisation” THE WIRE MAGAZINE



"A wild-eyed mix of cosmic country and chamber-folk, this makes for a thrilling noise” UNCUT MAGAZINE



“Charmingly, it succeeds in being both engaging and oddly uplifting while also being as dour in texture as a North Sea shoreline” INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY



“A lifework in its extensive meditations" SHINDIG MAGAZINE



“Defiantly individual, surely a future cult classic, it's raw takes on folk and country are a timeless delight” 24/7 MAGAZINE



“A grand, definitive statement sacrificing none of his unique poetic elegance for the sake of either conformity or convention ” THE LINE OF BEST FIT



PADRAIG WHELAN

"Playing stunningly beautiful soul drenched songs that reach the same heights as the sublime Lambchop, Whelan and his splendid band play with perfectly judged restraint. A real treat. For fans of Elliott Smith, Cass McCombs and Richard James’ (from Gorky’s) solo work."

Padraig Whelan website

Padraig Whelan "Never Be So Wicked, No More As You Once Were" LP by Padraig Whelan