Hamish Hawk's track-by-track guide to A Firmer Hand

Hamish Hawk's third studio album A Firmer Hand is a huge step forward from the Edinburgh musician. It's a soul-baring, open, and vulnerable collection of tracks that shine a new light on Hamish Hawk the man, while also building an ever-expanding collage of musical, textual and cultural references as it goes.

It's the kind of album that deserves a deep listen and suggests further reading – for a first-hand take on some of its lyrical and musical ideas, we asked Hamish Hawk to take us on a track-by-track journey through A Firmer Hand. Read Hamish's thoughts on the record below, and listen to A Firmer Hand via Spotify in the player below.

Juliet as Epithet
"I’ve long believed that every album should start with a song that is a law unto itself, and I feel Juliet is unique on A Firmer Hand. It is one of two truly tender and ultimately fleeting moments on the record, and the song I see myself most clearly in. It’s purely autobiographical, and very little of it actually took place."

Machiavelli’s Room
"A Firmer Hand is what it is as a direct result of Machiavelli. I felt so threatened by the song even I recognised that my only hope was to lean into its subject matter, not away from it. It’s the heart of the record, the seed from which it grew, and the confluence of its major themes, namely male desire, eroticism, violence and aggression. It’s this record’s love song, if you can believe it."

Big Cat Tattoos
"Big Cat was a thrill to write. It started life as an over-long, sprawling mess of verses, but it grew tighter and feistier, thanks to [Andrew] Pearson’s jittery loop track. It arrived with a host of new images on its belt too, so it was a godsend for my morale. It’s a quick and cynical one, full of petty potshots. It lives somewhere between immediacy and obscurity, so it’s kept me happy."

Nancy Dearest
"Most of the songs on A Firmer Hand are marked by the presence of someone: a lover, an authority figure, an enemy, or a confidante. Others, like Nancy, are marked instead by an absence. Our protagonist sings (somewhat) longingly from the uppermost window of the tallest ivory tower. It’s not the most dignified cry for help, but it is one nonetheless."

Autobiography of Spy
"Autobiography is one of the more erotically charged songs on the record. When I started writing songs for the album I was struck by how little I’d ever really delved into eroticism, having previously opted for safer options, such as romance, fatal attraction or unrequited love. I suppose I dared myself with Autobiography, and as far as I’m concerned, it paid off. I’m really happy with it. I enjoy the flirtation between the two worlds: the hook-ups, the espionage. I’ve since kept a list of possible titles for spies’ autobiographies, should anyone need it."

You Can Film Me
"...Film Me stands out on the record as one of those arch, raised-eyebrow songs, and as much as it has that in its blood, I see it more as a state of the nation; it’s my attempt to check-in with myself, and figure out how I’m really doing. It appears I am getting older, and working a lot more with cameras."

Christopher St.
"A song in memoriam Marsha P. Johnson."

Men Like Wire
"In Bakerloo, Unbecoming [on 2021's Heavy Elevator], I wrote “essentially it comes down [again] to the limitless mysteries of other men”. Men Like Wire is a deeper excavation of that idea. In short, it’s about men. Men I have and haven’t known, men I’ve seen, heard, loved and lost. Men I’ve been seated next to at weddings, bus stops and dinner parties, on trains, beds and park benches. They’re all in there, for better, for worse."

Questionable Hit
"Questionable Hit is the oldest song on the record, and might well have appeared on Angel Numbers, had it not felt so immediately distinct from those songs. An embarrassing number on A Firmer Hand draw inspiration from some squabble or petty grievance, and Questionable Hit is definitely one of them. The song has teeth, but listening now I’m struck by how clearly sad it is. It was written during a difficult period, and it seems I had more on my mind than I knew at the time."

Disingenuous
"The near-inevitable song about writing songs, or rather not writing songs. Our protagonist greets every flash of fresh inspiration, every hint of promise, with instant suspicion. He leaves no stone unturned in his endeavour to prove that the world is indeed geared against him. The sloping shoulder of a lover offers him neither escape nor refuge. He’s descended his ivory tower looking for a new muse, and isn’t convinced by the one he finds."

Milk an Ending
"Milk an Ending could be described as A Firmer Hand in miniature. The lust, the secrecy, the shame, the softness, the disdain, the arrogance – it’s all in there. Milk an Ending was very satisfying to write; its style and structure demanded a clear, concise lyric that was nevertheless vivid, potent and suggestive, and I think I just about got there. Another autobiographical track, it doesn’t seek to clean itself up. It’s a dark horse, I reckon."

The Hard Won
"The Hard Won is an apology, likely too little, too late, but nonetheless deserving of a place on the record. We all have those memories that wake us wince, and this here’s one of mine."

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A Firmer Hand is out now via Fierce Panda/ So Recordings

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