Listening to Hawk Nelson’s third studio CD,
Hawk Nelson Is My Friend, is the sonic
equivalent to running a marathon or more aptly, sprinting a marathon. The Tooth & Nail band opens the disc with
intense energy, thanks to front man Jason Dunn’s impassioned vocals, Jonathan
Steingard’s edgy electrics and Daniel Biro and Aaron Tosti’s pulsating, erratic
rhythm section. The explosion of sound from the electrifying opener (“You Have
What I Need”) to the honest, unfettered closer (“I Still Miss You”) charges on
for nearly 40 minutes. It’s spiked with adrenaline like a runner’s high and
leaves the listener exhausted, but exilerated, at the album’s end.
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Produced by David
Bendeth (Elvis, Paramore, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus),
HNIMF is stacked with co-writing appearances from a line-up of
tunesmiths including Richard Marx (“Right Here Waiting”) and Thousand Foot
Krutch’s Trevor McNevan. McNevan is credited for discovering the band and had a
hand in writing or co-producing both of Hawk’s previous outings.
The new disc picks
up where the Canadian-bred four-piece left off with its 2006 CHR smash,
“Everything You Ever Wanted.” More pop than punk,
HNIMF throws a few bones to punk purists with songs like the
clangorous “Just Like Me.” But the album really excels on more accessible
alternative pop anthems like first radio single, “Friend Like That,” which
radiates a raucous energy. The sensitive, melodic “Arms Around Me” would be a
perfect compliment to current mainstream pop radio playlists, as well as the
hooky “Not The Same.” Even the slow songs (“Somebody Else”) are more mid-tempo
than down-tempo, and like the rest of the album, don’t leave much space between
the notes.
-- Lizza Connor Bowen