Advance Review - The Awkward Silences: The Awkward Silences (November 20, 2020) via Blang Records
The Awkward Silences are back with a self-titled release that serves as the follow-up to 2015's Outsider Pop. On The Awkward Silences, the band brings an antifolk sound that evokes comps to The Violent Femmes, but with more daring instrumentation. The English group brings a bite on their self-titled release that is a welcome sound for 2020. Singer/songwriter Paul Hawkins vocals chomp over a mischievous melodies that rings so true.
With daring lyrics evoking inequality, mental health, and more, The Awkward Silences delicately evoke these themes in a tone that feels both caring and dangerous. This album has found a special place in my heart as sonically, it keeps one foot in 90's alt with its sound and another very much contemporary. There's a lot to love from The Awkward Silences, not just their music, but also in Hawkins' disability activism. Hawkins has done so much with the disability charity Attitude is Everything and their program Beyond the Music. Beyond the Music aims to advocate for employment opportunities for Deaf and disabled individuals in the music industry. In short, it's music with a cause and it's music that is downright fun to jam to.
Rating - 5/5