Volume 8

Inspired by folk music traditions which transcended both borders and language, Jeremy Barnes (of Neutral Milk Hotel) formed A Hawk and a Hacksaw in 2002. The project truly blossomed when Barnes met his partner in music and life, Heather Trost in 2004. The couple went on to make seven albums in which they’ve explored their ardour for music from Northern Romania through the Balkans to Turkey.

Volume 8, their first release for Rocket Recordings, takes an uplifting universality of spirit and marries it to a cathartic rawness, flourishing in an electrifying celebratory passion free of both time and place. The invigorating, drone-inflected ‘Gayda’ sees a Turkish bagpipe melody arranged for distorted violin and tapan drum, resulting in a collision of celebratory joy and transcendent noise.

Bookending the album are two tracks which sum up the spiritually altruistic vision of Volume 8. The opening song ‘Beloved’ forms a kind of call to arms, whilst the closer ‘Yes, We Love You’ operates as both a statement of intent and an answer song to the 1978 Lebanese pop hit ‘Do You Love Me’ by the Bendaly Family.