The Sheffield soul man sounds as inspired as ever

The appeal of Richard Hawley’s music is something that can last a lifetime. Over a two-decade solo career – which was prefaced by stints in Britpop band The Longpigs and with Pulp – he’s crafted a full-bodied baroque pop that works on doubling down on ultimatums: hope or despair , freedom or solitude. Often, the emotional payoff of his songs unfolds through lyrical twists that reverse sadness and romantic yearning to reveal warmth, set over swaggering guitars caught up close.

However, his singular magic can be found in the way Hawley has long looked to his hometown of Sheffield for inspiration and seen glimpses of the ineffable. His ninth LP, “In This City They Call You Love,” elegantly represents what it means to be so intertwined with one’s location; even in a place rich in musical history, Hawley remains a singular figure for the way this fascination seeped into his songwriting. His albums bear a succession of hometown references: “Lady’s Bridge” is over the Don River; “Truelove’s Gutter” was named after a street in the old town; Standing At The Sky’s Edge, which evolved into the current West End musical of the same name, was partly inspired by the historic Park Hill estate.

It’s one thing to make art directly influenced by places and memories that are, literally, so close to home; it’s another to come back for more. Hawley’s approach is to avoid too much detail—it’s a record of how steely determination carried this narrator through time. A two-time Mercury Prize nominee, Hawley is still in tune with the daring nature of his work: love is patient but life is short, he tells us on the bossa nova “Do I Really Need To Know?”, while “Heavy Rain’ – reminiscent of the sonic sensation of 2005’s ‘Coles Corner’ – evokes a dreamlike state, the lush orchestration acting as a perfect foil for his vocals.

This warmth permeates, but is undercut with scatterings of mischievous flourishes. Apparently Hawley is not without a sense of humor about himself. The album is less stunning than its rockabilly-influenced predecessor, 2019’s “Further,” in part because it gives equal weight to fiery blues (“Prism In Jeans,” the stooges-like “Two For His Heels”) and popular psychedelic. (‘In the depths of space’). “Have Love” is robustly arranged, folding into a steady groove with a deeper, more serious vocal performance.

Even the simpler songs veer toward career depth: “Deep Waters,” a song ostensibly about seeking solace, sounds troubled through its little bursts of dubby echo. Yet as unexpected as some of these moments are, everything here feels curious and purposeful, like the sound of a free-wheeling imagination.

All of this suggests an experimental opposite that Hawley might be holding back, a future record that might show the full extent of his maverick spirit. “In This City They Call You Love” doesn’t falter due to a lack of invention; there’s just the sense that these sonic oddities can be pushed even further, made even bolder. But as the soulful and haunting inner-city vignette “People” shows, he clearly remains focused on the next great song he’s yet to write.

Details

• Release date: May 31
• Record label: BMG Records