It only takes a few bars of Where In The World to tell you that you are in the presence of Big Music. This west London five-piece are not in the business of half measures, not interested in anxious, apologetic, half-baked landfill indie. Goldhawks make their ambitions clear from the start: the giant opening guitar riff sets its cap at arenas, not the toilet circuit. The Where In The World video, shot over a freezing UK Christmas in Cornwall, features UK surf champion Seb Smart, braving the high seas intercut with the band performing.
Two years ago, under his own name, Bobby Cook was releasing a single, Deja Vu, whose sweeping strings and acoustic shuffle saw him quickly bracketed alongside the likes of Laura Marling, Jamie T and Mumford and Sons on the dawning London skewed-folk scene. Already, people whose curiosity had been aroused by Deja Vu's gentle acoustica found themselves faced with a very different prospect live.
"The songs were getting much heavier," Bobby remembers. "On one hand, I was drawing on a passion for Ryan Adams. But then I'd find myself being inspired by filmic and more textured music. And it was obvious to everyone that this big, majestic sound wasn't just down to me."
More like revivalist meetings than gigs, Goldhawks' live performances have reminded older hands of the zealotry and ferment of Echo and The Bunnymen. To their own generation, Goldhawks represent something that can often seem like it's in very short supply indeed: music that has nothing to do with striking attitudes or ticking commercial boxes, and everything to do with what Bobby calls his only reason for making music in the first place: because he has to, he's "got no choice".