Hawkwind "Somnia" album review

More than half a century from their first album, Hawkwind never stops to amaze. This is their 34th album continuing with their long sonic explorations into the space rock genre.

Since 1969 this band never stopped to astonish fans and acolytes. Dave Brook (the only original member still active in the band) managed to steer the Hawkwind ship through the unforgiving sea of music business with mastery. Maintaining a steady course, they remain true to their raw sound and essence.

This is my 16th Hawkwind album in my collection. In the beginning I was a little bit apprehensive to pull the trigger and add this to my cd shelve, but I’m glad I did. Released on September 10th, 2021. It took me a bit less than 2 weeks to decide and write a few lines about it.

I brought their 2019 “ALL ABOARD THE SKYLARK” album and with all due respect, it didn’t leave an outstanding impression. It was alright to say the least, a record highly anticipated but quickly forgotten inside my record collection. Even though Is kind of similar to their last album, this is more adventurous, what a treat “Somnia” is.

This is an album with a focus point on dreams. It’s a bona fide concept album that goes deep into the realms of sleep, with a story mainly focused on Roman mythology and their God of Sleep “Somnus.” Lyrics and sonic landscapes are crafted to take you on a journey. On “Somnia” you never know what comes next, just like in a nightmare. It’s not the first time they flirt with the subject, on their first album, there’s a song called Paranoia part 1 that reminded me of what it’s like to be having a bad dream but in a musical sense, somehow this record feels similar, even if it’s more than 50 years apart.

The opening number “Unsomnia” starts rooted to their space rock sound. A tight number full of ups and downs, it’s a true reflection of what you’re going to get inside the album. It’s the perfect introduction to this voyage on which we embark every night when we close our eyes and let our subconscious mind take control.

As the album progresses, we go deep into the rabbit hole of Hawkwind’s raw sound. I don’t want to go doing a song by song review because sound is subjective. What may sound extremely dull to me, it may sound incredible sharp to you, to each its own.

Listening to this work for the first time was a real treat. I was at the gym, doing my routine workout as usual when something made me sit and listen to what was going on during a tune. On the song "Small objects in Space,” there’s an instrumental passage that stunned me. After a trippy introductory line of Brook “looking through a telescope to find small objects floating in space” an incredible catchy piano riff propels you to raise above and focus on where the music is going.

A wonderful syncopated piano keeps growing and growing to end up in this masterful groove that flirts with a proto Latin groove. But when you think that that was as far as they could take you, a “clave” (a percussion instrument used in salsa music) takes the lead unexpectedly. When I heard the clave, I had to take out one of my earbuds and check that the clave was coming from my music and not from the gym speakers. “Is Hawkwind really playing a salsa tumbao? How cool is that?”

When the clave stops, a wash of electric piano takes the lead and departures from where they landed. After less than a minute the clave starts again and the salsa rhythm takes front stage once more to be masterfully adorned by the line:

“I Know you might find it rather strange.”

You bet I find it strange Dave Brook! What a mix of sounds and rhythms. The song ends with the perfect line for such bizarre pastiche of sounds:

“It’s all in your head… And it’s not preordained.”

The skillful clean production puts this album among my favorites in their discography. I’ve always been apprehensive about going all in on them, too many records, too many musical styles, to many members. For a collector of music like me, Hawkwind is a budget threat.

This band continues to be as enthralling and prolific as they ever were. Impressive is the fact that Dave brook is 80-years-old and he is not showing any sign of slowing down.