Ian Hawgood: Savage Modern Structures
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When solo and collaborative releases are counted, the discography Ian Hawgood's amassed is nothing short of staggering. What makes it all the more impressive is that, as this latest release shows, he's still capable of creating vital and imaginative work unlike anything he's produced before. One of the ways he accomplishes that is by devising ever new strategies for creating material, in the case of Savage Modern Structures the sound-generating gear he used, specifically guitar and that beloved prog standby, mellotron. It's all Hawgood, though in October 2024 he and Will Bolton brought the album to its final form by using the AKG BX20 spring reverb units at Elektronmusikstudion EMS in Stockholm to give the material extra analog warmth and organic reverb.

The notes he shared for the release provide ample technical info about the equipment used, from a ‘70s Music Man guitar amp and 1964 Hohner Orgaphon amp to DPA4060 lavalier microphones, RE-201 Space Echo, a Fostex X-18 tape recorder, and two classic Boss pedals, a DM-2 and DD-2. No one needs to get too worked up about any of that, of course, when what ultimately matters is the musical result, which is very fine indeed. Recorded entirely at night, Savage Modern Structures is perfectly attuned to the wee small hours and that liminal space one inhabits before the onset of sleep. During the opening “Veneer of Nothingness,” vaporous tones and washes drift and softly resound, their peaceful glide punctuated by a muted horn-like melody that emerges like some ghostly galleon from the mist. Even hazier is “God Complex,” which could pass for a close-mic'ed recording of that ship's groaning “song” as it advances closer.

External elements—things like electrical static and radio signals—form a more conspicuous presence in “God Complex” than in the opener but not unpleasantly so; if anything, the blanket of granular hum wrapping itself around the material only adds to its evocative character. “Lose Yourself” extends that effect even further with ringing tones muffled by layers of rumbling noise and fuzzy textures. As is often the case with ambient recordings, the incorporation of extra-musical noise and frequencies ends up enhancing the effect by amplifying the material's atmospheric and evocative qualities. At album's end is the two-part “Modernity,” whose gauzy seesawing patterns and slow-motion flourishes prove more than a little entrancing. A mood of melancholy crystallizes as the poetic meditation wends its patient, plaintive way and brings this thirty-nine-minute travelogue to its conclusion.

Interestingly, Hawgood created the album tracks with no initial intention of releasing them for public consumption and instead made them for his own pleasure; in his words, the album's “a pure reflection on those early days of being so free making music without any projection or concept of other people listening.” If there's a word to describe its effect, it's cathartic. Rather than come away from Savage Modern Structures with nerves frayed and frazzled, you'll more likely find yourself soothed, calmed, and your heart rate slowed by its haunting reveries.

March 2025