SACRAMENTO, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Big Book Records) - Psychedelic country rockers I See Hawks In L.A. announced the birth of a new CD in spring. Sacramento's Big Book Records, distributed via Burnside Distribution will release the Hawks fourth CD Hallowed Ground on May 20, 2008.
New Hawks listeners will be struck by this latest phase of the Hawks journey—mixing serious country cred (members have played with Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, Hazel and Alice, and every honky-tonk from Riverside to Malibu) with wild lyricism and surreal story telling. Audra Schroeder of the Austin Chronicle calls it: "Americana, traversing the landscape of the Golden State like Didion on horseback. It's a divine fusion of humor and twang that's definitely high, but not that lonesome."
I See Hawks In L.A. were founded in 1999 by Minnesotan turned Echo Park dweller Rob Waller and Cal native Paul Lacques and have been called "...the city's premier roots band", by the Los Angeles Times and "...trance-inducing, the stories transfixing, the vibe completely Californian" by alt country bible No Depression. Hallowed Ground, the band's 4th release, cuts a wide swath of post-Gram Parsons California country music and lyrically mines poetically expressed eco/end times themes. This time around, the band ventures into Celtic, Tex-Mex and 70s Soul, with a beefed up sound from wunderkind mixer Ethan Allen (The 88, Donita Sparks, Daniel Lanois), that is sure to surprise and satisfy longtime fans.
Throughout their career, the Hawks have mixed traditional bar room musings with other tales: mating dances of agnostic whales; the life Senator Byrd from West Virginia; a Humboldt pot grower's flight to Tibet; a muted lament of a working stiff; boom and bust in guitarist Lacques's Mojave desert homeland; wandering hippie caravans; existential epiphany in Disney World; the imminent collapse of suburban Houston. In 2002 the Hawks were decidedly ahead of the curve in directly critiquing the Bush administration's drums of war.
Despite this out on a limb perch, I See Hawks In L.A. have been embraced by legends of contemporary country, requested as opening acts by Lucinda Williams and Chris Hillman (who plays on '06's California Country), hitting the Americana Charts, No 2 on XM radio's alt country, and landing several No Depression best of the year surveys near and far. They're big in Scotland and North Carolina.
May's release of Hallowed Ground continues this balancing act, featuring brilliant fiddler Gabe Witcher (Chris Thiele, Jerry Douglas, Merle Haggard) and pedal steeler Dave Zirbel (Commander Cody) in songs that blur twang into experimental pop: a couple's Topanga Canyon hike that ends in a suicide pact ("Carbon Dated Love"); vivid imaginings of life after electricity ("Ever Since The Grid Went Down"); hope against hope ("Environmental Children Of The Future"); and a pair of Celtic inspired tunes, complete with Irish fiddle melodies, that trace the band's collective ancestral roots, and empire's foundations in slavery ("Pale And Troubled Race" and "The Salty Sea"). Plus there are 3 catchy two-steps in the key of G that you can dance to.
