Portland’s Hawks Do Not Share Debut Introspective Synth Track “Midtown”

Sirens echo and squawk

I surveil like a hawk

How do I? How do I let go?

Portland, Oregon’s Hawks Do Not Share (HDNS) release a gentle, introspective new synth track, Midtown. With a deep emotional resonance harkening to the sounds of The xx, MGMT, Tears For Fears, The The, and Angelo Badalamenti, the deceptively simple hook delves into a dangerous situation and making peace with a poor decision; the song is a soaring, yet minimalist reflection on centering one’s heart when the ground trembles under our feet.

This is a track that will bring out the feelings: a gorgeous meditation on vulnerability and the rabbit holes it creates. The instrumental backing is especially poignant.

Recently, HDNS completed their second full-length album, A Dream to Hold on To, which will be released on limited vinyl and digitally through No Movement Records in September 2021. Midtown is the first single off the album.

After a brief hiatus following the release of a final work by their previous band, longtime collaborators GL3 and Jeremy Wilkins rejoined forces in 2013, hashing out a new musical identity. Toward the end of recording their debut album, HDNS, they welcomed multi-instrumentalist Britt White into the fold. Jason Roark was in the audience when the trio played the Doug Fir Lounge in celebration of the album’s release and would soon become the band’s full-time guitarist. Now a foursome, they continued performing live in support of HDNS, while exploring new identities in the studio, culminating in 2016’s Polaris EP.

HDNS has devoted most of the intervening years to working in the studio. In the first days of March 2020, gathering right before widespread shutdowns due to the global health pandemic, the band reimagined and re-recorded the song Nightfall from Polaris, and released it digitally as a standalone single they called Nightfall ’20.

A beautiful offering from HDNS.

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