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 Hawksley Workman |
Hawksley Workman's forthcoming album, "Treeful Of Starling," due Feb. 21, is closer in style to the singer-songwriter's 1999 debut, "For Him And The Girls," than 2004's more commercial offering, "Lover/Fighter," which scanned 34,000 units in Canada, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
"It's not a radio record," says Universal Music Canada's senior vice-president of A&R, Allan Reid. "It's a nine-song collection of very intimate, very personal, more acoustic recordings. There will be a focus track for appropriate radio."
Like "Lover/Fighter" and the 2004 DVD, "Live In Lille," the new album is part of Workman's direct deal with Universal. His other releases have been through his own Isadora imprint, via Universal, including "For Him And The Girls," 2001's (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves," and a Christmas spirit EP, "Almost A Full Moon." A CD of early material called "Before We Were Security Guards" was only available on a 2004 Canadian tour (MapleMusic.com now sells it online), and Universal created a best of compilation to be sold off-stage last year at his shows in Australia.
Hawksley's profile has been ever-increasing in Europe, U.K., Australia, and at home in Canada. Five tracks were serviced to radio from "Lover/Fighter" -- including the smash "We Will Still Need a Song," "Anger as Beauty", "Even an Ugly Man," "No Reason to Cry Out Your Eyes (On the Highway Tonight)" and "Smoke Baby," but Reid isn't concerned that the Bay Lake, ON native (born Ryan Corrigan) hasn't delivered a so-called obvious hit with "Treeful Of Starling."
"The bottom line for us as a label is we're here to promote the artistic endeavors of our artists, period, and Hawksley has got so many different sides to his abilities," says Reid.
"If you look at his records as a whole," says Reid, "from 'Him And The Girls' to 'Delicious Wolves' to 'Almost A Full Moon' to 'Lover/Fighter,' they are all radically different, so this is not like it's the follow-up to Lover/Fighter;' it's almost like what Sarah Harmer did with 'I'm A Mountain.' 'This is something she loves to do; let's help her do it,' and same for him."
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Hawksley has two shows scheduled to date, in Ontario, one headlining Toronto's Massey Hall on March 25, the other at Sean O'Sullivan Theatre in St. Catharines March 31. He will then return to Australia, for the second time in six months, for dates in April.