(Vanguard/Shock)

Third and best so far from this generation’s Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood

Let’s face it, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan are a vocal match made in heaven. Arguably two of the most distinctive singers of our times, the ex-Screaming Trees singer/QOTSA collaborator and former Belle & Sebastian member have teamed up on previous occasions, yielding two excellent albums – 2006’s Ballad Of The Broken Seasand 2008’s Sunday At Devil Dirt – in the process. There were plenty of great moments on that pair of LPs, however the duo’s third joint effort Hawk manages to better them. The album’s first four numbers – We Die And See Beauty Reign, You Won’t Let Me Down Again, Snake Song and the torchy, spy movie strings-assisted Come Undone – are exquisite; Lanegan’s bourbon-and-smokes drawl, offset by Campbell’s angelic, breathy whisper, is a thing of sheer marvel. Again, the spartan production and stripped-down instrumentation prove to be a winning formula, allowing the duo’s voices to shine. Breaking up the mostly-downbeat template are slashing country-rocker Get Behind Me and Celtic-tinged Eyes Of Green, while the instrumental title track is a prime-grade barroom stomper. Campbell’s solo turn on the dirgey, minor-key Sunrise is supremely haunting (think Sarah Cracknell on Saint Etienne’s reading of Western Wind). She goes into Hope Sandoval mode on the dreamy To Hell And Back Again before the world-weary Lanegan takes the lead again on the folky Cool Water and gospel-flavoured closer Lately. Ladies and gentlemen, Southern gothic is alive and well.

****

DENIS SEMCHENKO

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