Mallory Hawk – “Four O’Clocks”

Former Customer frontwoman Mallory Hawk's debut solo album Chinook is named after the military helicopters that dotted the skies around her childhood hometown. That town factors directly into "Four O'Clocks," the pensive and pretty new single she released today. Let Hawk explain:

This song is about the house I lived in from ages 6 to 16 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It was eventually demolished by the city so they could build a highway that made it easier to get to the Fort Bragg military base from residential areas. Shortly after we moved, a tornado came through and damaged the house, which was really jarring and made us grateful to have left even though we never wanted to. I tried driving back there and got far enough to remember that it’s not even possible to visit or really identify where the house was—it’s a highway exit ramp now,” she explains of the song, which is accented by muted french horn and flugelhorn. “‘Four o’clocks’ are the flowers that lined the walkway to our front steps. They're fragrant and magenta, and only bloom from 4 to 8 pm. They were always fresh when I got home from school and the smell just transports me there—it’s such a vivid memory for me, down to the sounds, colors, and textures. I really wanted to just feel the winds and smell the smells of my home and reflect on how far I’d come since then, but the reality is quite drab and anti-climactic.

There have been some great singles from this album so far, but "Four O'Clocks" is my favorite, especially when that magnificent French horn comes in. Listen below.

Chinook is out 7/31. Pre-order it here.