Search - Hawksley Workman :: Delicious Wolves

Buckley inc.

11/06/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Artist, songwriter and Toronto's resident nutter, Hawksley Workman may be mentioned alongside the Buckleys (Tim and Jeff), Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen and Robyn Hitchcock. But it's David Bowie with whom this celebrated underground artiste stands closest on Delicious Wolves. In addition to an uncanny vocal match - guttural baritones lapping against the wavering frenzy of his falsetto - both share art rock ambitions unconcerned with mainstream appeal. Paths fork though in the quality of the music. Rarely has Bowie recorded an album without its share of smelly indulgence, while Workman's brilliance never thins enough to let such light shine through. He's an intellectual, but one with black-humour, dishing out celebratory critiques of youth and beauty played out over aberrant pop - a noncommittal style which swings wildly through glam (Striptease, Jealous of Your Cigarette), cabaret (Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off, What a Woman) and the kind of restless new wave that once plowed the road for a hungry Elvis Costello. Not necessarily for everyone, to be sure. But certainly for those who prefer their pop smart."