Album Review: Maya Hawke, Chaos Angel

Maya Hawke has starred in the massively popular Netflix series Stranger Things; Tarantino’s masterpiece Once Upon A Time In Hollywood; Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City; and Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro. She’s also modelled for Vogue. Chaos Angel is her third album. Hawke is 25. That’s some work-rate!

Production and co-writing comes from the ridiculously talented Christian Lee Hutson, who has worked with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Conor Oberst, Julia Jacklin and Jenny Lewis. Also onboard are long-time collaborators Benjamin Lazar Davis and Will Graefe. It’s quite a team. Researching Flannery O’Connor for her lead performance in Wildcat, the biographical drama directed by her father Ethan Hawke, Maya encountered the battles O’Connor launched against her guardian angel, and felt they were akin to wrestling with our own instincts.

On Chaos Angel, Hawke’s guardian angel is flawed, confused and human. On Earth to enact peace and love, everything she touches turns to chaos. But amidst the destruction, there is considerable beauty. Across 10 tracks of sophisticated indie-folk, Maya flexes her natural storytelling muscles, easing you into her narrative songs.

At times, its laugh out loud funny, such as on ‘Dark’ (“Tried to let you forget me / But my Celtic cross was heavy when it hit your fucking teeth”) or Missing Out’ (“Lucy wants to write the next Great American Novel / She can’t even read the bottle”). However, there is depth behind the mirth, and by the time you get to the titular closing track, there is a fitting sense of resolution.

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