DrownedinSound: A Hawk and a Hacksaw

Exquisite Balkan-influenced folk? Jeremy Barnes of Neutral Milk Hotel fame? Don't mind if we do, cheers. The last (and only) time A Hawk and a Hacksaw played Sheffield was with Calexico in 2006, and that was one of the best gigs we've seen in this fair city to date. This is going to be rather special.

Band biog:

Originally started by former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Jeremy Barnes, A Hawk and a Hacksaw released its self-titled debut, on which Barnes played all the instruments and which explored 20th century American music, in 2004 on Leaf Records. The next year, after enlisting help from tuba player Mark Weaver, trumpeter Dan Clucas, and violinist Heather Trost, Barnes and the band issued Darkness at Noon, which was recorded in the U.K. and in Barnes' native Albuquerque, NM, and delved into both Eastern European and American folk music. Ever the traveler, Barnes went to Romania for the group's (which was by this time just him and Trost) third album, where he recorded songs for it with the Gypsy brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia. The Way the Wind Blows, which continued A Hawk and a Hacksaw's tradition of mainly instrumental fare, was then released in 2006. That same year, Trost and Barnes moved to Budapest, Hungary where they fully immersed themselves in the Eastern European musical tradition by playing and recording with the local Hun Hangár Ensemble, resulting in 2007's critically acclaimed EP A Hawk and a Hacksaw & the Hun Hangar Ensemble and its' 2009 sibling Deliverance.

"Enchanting, beguiling, and charming ... if you like Beirut, you'll love this." - DrownedinSound

"Flashes of such melodic invention and daredevil instrumentation that armchair travelers can't help but be drawn to the group's exotic scrapbook." - Pitchfork

"You'll feel lost and totally submerged in a sublime experience that's timeless, exciting and free from boundaries." - Splendid

"An invigorating journey, a caravan of cavorting musicians, careening through the countryside, stopping only to play festivals and funerals." - Stylus

+ Support

+ DJs: DrownedinSound

@ The Harley, 334 Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2HW

Doors: 8pm
Age: 18+
Price: £8adv / MOTD
Telephone: 0114 2752288