Taken from her latest album Beautifully Astray, listen to Abi Wade‘s stripped back version of Hawk In Your Side. Anyone familiar with Abi Wade’s solo cello performances will know that she’s a master at musically translating emotion and movement within the confines of one instrument. This version of Hawk In Your Side which is over a minute shorter is enriched by her simplified approach, projecting her vocals to the fore which, with a sparser arrangement, make a bigger impact. The track is to be released alongside her latest album single Laws And Mankind (released via Brighton’s independent label Love Thy Neighbour).
Talking of this version Abi said: It’s a track I’ve played live on the piano for a while now but really love it on the Rhodes, it is about longing and love so the soft sound fits the mood of song well.
About Beautifully Astray
Abi wrote most of the tracks on the album on cello initially in various locations of her old hometown of Brighton, from the living room of her seafront apartment to the dark belly of Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar. From this starting point, Abi set out on a sonic exploration, getting field recordings in locations as diverse as a printworks, a tap dancing club and following a chance meeting there, a fishing boat:
“After the tap dancing class I was explaining to the man who ran it how I was trying to get onto a boat to record some sounds and by pure coincidence it turned out he was a fisherman, I did not expect a tap dancing fisherman! It was truly an amazing experience to go out first thing on to the water and share a moment of time with such an interesting character.”
Following a move to Camden the tracks were fleshed out with orchestral arrangements and were recorded in Jay Malhotra and Sam Duckworth’s Amazing Grace studio in Hoxton. These sessions included brass, wind and choral ensembles. Abi then worked with ‘the patron saints of print’ Eley Kishimoto to create the visuals for the album matching the story of each print and pattern to the story of each song. Their patterns are featured on both the album and single artwork and has been a source of inspiration throughout the making of the album.
‘Beautifully Astray’ was recorded with support from Help Musician’s Emerging Excellence award, and the release with support from PRS for Music Foundation’s Women Make Music.
Abi Wade has a number of upcoming solo dates and is also supporting The Burning Hell on two dates.
Live dates
18th May: The Hope & Ruin. Brighton – alt. Great Escape
19th May: The Mucky Duck. Brighton – alt. Great Escape
22nd May: The Finsbury. London.
27th May: Rough Trade. Bristol.
31st July: The Hope & Ruin, Brighton supporting The Burning Hell
1st August: The Lexington, London supporting The Burning Hell
More: https://www.abiwade.com/