Hadnot Creek

With artists, there is an ongoing battle between going into weird, wild unexplored territory and writing something that hooks the audience with a cozy familiarity. Genres on the extremes search to push the boundaries of the palatable 100% of the time, other genres strive to find that perfect simple structure that makes the listener feel at home. Which is better? Neither. Both have their merits. A manic jazz exploration and a pristine cowboy country track both have their merits. It's up to the band to feel out the niche in which they best fit.

Hadnot Creek are returning with their second album Hard World. The Charlottesville, Virginia-based group plays an earnest brand of heartland indie-folk that bounces between stompin' roots rock, heartfelt Americana ballads, and dark dusty road outlaw country. Hard World uses different colour palettes to paint pictures of characters doing their best to make their way in the world. The album is a road trip through “flyover country”, to Spokane and back home.

A leisurely happy-go-lucky beat and guitar lick score the opener 'Methadone Guy'. Vocalist and bandleader Robert Sawrey spins yarns in the cadence of 90s Dylan, minus the wheezing honk. Tracks like 'Liars in Love', 'Toxic Wonder', and 'You Got Caught' showcase the band's blues-rock credentials, laying down four on the floor rock n roll with a southern bent. Their Rolling Stones influence bleeds with another Dylan's project, Jakob's band The Wallflowers.

70s road trip acoustic folk-rock is out in full force on 'Crawling Away'. 'Wedding Day' and 'Leaving Spokane' show a tender side with a couple of easy-going country-tinged swaying ballads. However, Hadnot Creek are at their most interesting when they lean into their darker impulses and create southern gothic tunes that bring to mind tracks like The Handsome Family's True Detective theme 'Far from Any Road'. Mid-album standout 'Nowhere to Go' hangs on a last chance at luck chord progression textured by wavering spaghetti western guitars. A haunting fuzzed-out wail gnaws from the background as Sawrey delivers cowboy confessions of strife with pearls of wisdom peppered in. Gorgeously constructed and brilliantly executed. Chilling and unforgettable. 'Museum of Messed Up Stories' has a similar vibe but with a suspended drum beat that Pink Floyd's Nick Mason used to great effect. The buoyancy allows the group to settle into a dreamy psych-rock groove. This song is a perfect demonstration of the effectiveness of patience in songwriting.

It's hard to tell whether Hard World is showing a band reaching out to all facets of its personality to create an eclectic album or maybe just a series of experiments to find which shoe fits. In terms of making the most fascinating and captivating art that they have in them, leaning into tracks like 'Nowhere to Go' and 'Museum of Messed Up Stories' would go a long way. A concept album filled with tracks like those would make for a classic.