Rambling Duo

Isobel Campbell must hate always hearing how weird it is for her to work with Mark Lanegan. How peculiar that her post Belle & Sebastian career is all bluesy Americana and no twee Scottish pop. How this particular Scottish blonde get to collaborate with the taciturn American. And how it works surprisingly well. How people are still amased at the fluency of their music even if the duo has worked together for three albums.

Like she said it in an interview last week, it just works. There is a certain chemistry that is hard to put into words, to describe, to deconstruct. The first two albums, while maybe not perfect, gently let you know this. The duo’s third studio recording, Hawk, is not afraid to repeat it: herein lies a bond that few people can achieve. There is no such thing as pushing it, as trying too hard to write songs for the both of them. Effortless is what defines this album and, as a matter of fact, the duo’s entire work. It’s like they were in fact different faces of the same person. Lanegan’s rough bluesy voice and Campbell’s nightingale one exist to complete each other. There is no war of egos, no schizoid songs or different artistic approaches. Just a blissful union of two songwriters, an intimacy that seems out of this world.

It is hard to argue that Campbell and Lanegan are at their best when they craft breezy, sensual musical pieces. When they write about the troubles of the heart and wayward men. The softly sang To Hell & Back Again and No Place To Fall (“I’m not much of a lover, that’s true” muses Lanegan) are instant attention grabbers in a sea of beauty. But here, on Hawk, the two show where rockabilly can take them: Get Behind Me and Hawk recall of long highway drives and smoky Southern bars.

While there is no denying Hawk is an overall beautiful album, it has its flaws: it requires a certain mood when listening to the record, it is a bit too homogenous and, at times, a bit too forgettable. But it is serves its purpose just right. It reminds everyone that Campbell and Lanegan were always meant to work together and their artistic union should be no surprise to others.