The Way The Wind Blows is the third album from A Hawk And A Hacksaw, and was partly recorded in a remote Romanian village with members of the justly admired Balkan folk group, Fanfare Ciocarlia. Now a duo comprising songwriter Jeremy Barnes (drums, accordion, vocals) and Heather Trost (violin), AHAAH’s music is a joyous and romantic romp through traditional sounds, interspersing the duo’s passionate musical duets with exuberant brass band stomp.

At age 18, Jeremy Barnes departed from his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico with a hopeful spirit of adventure, in hot pursuit of music. Travelling in France, living in New York and Chicago (where he played drums for the cult group Neutral Milk Hotel), Barnes finally settled in Leicester, England at the turn of the millennium. There he became a postman. This unlikely turn of events (“It was horrible, but I’m still proud to have the Royal Mail uniform” resulted in Jeremy briefly drumming for Broadcast during their HaHa Sound period, while secretly tinkering away on what would blossom into A Hawk And A Hacksaw.

Arriving in 2002 with a self-titled debut recorded in France, accordion, piano and bursts of drunken chorus recalled Kurt Weill orchestrations and the whimsical side of Tom Waits, with a flourish of PT Barnum deceits and backwoods carnivals, top hats and curly moustaches. Essentially a one-man band, Barnes was toe-dipping in waters that would soon run much deeper.

www.ahawkandahacksaw.co.uk

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