Mallory Hawk's 'Chinook' Refuses to Sit Still, and That's the Whole Point
Mallory Hawk doesn’t make records that sit still. Across Chinook, the Philadelphia songwriter moves through noisy indie rock, dance-punk, acoustic balladry, garage-punk, new wave, and country rock without ever losing the thread — a self-released, ten-track statement that prioritizes real songwriting over anything resembling algorithmic conformity. Stereogum’s Chris DeVille named it Album of the Week, calling it “an artisanal alternative to the mood machine,” and it’s easy to hear why: this is a record built by hand, one deliberate choice at a time.
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Producer Samuel Acchione works alongside Hawk to keep the arrangements serving the song first, whatever that song happens to need — guitars and synths (courtesy of Logan Roth) trade the lead role depending on the track, never crowding each other out.
The Spatial Dynamics: The record’s genre-hopping could easily feel scattershot, but the brass work — French horn and flugelhorn from Tree Palmedo — gives even the noisiest cuts a warm, rounded low-mid presence that ties the whole thing together. It’s the connective tissue between the dance-punk detours and the acoustic comedowns.
Standout Performance
Hawk’s voice is the real anchor here. On one of the record’s most dynamic moments, she pushes to the upper edge of her range and pleads, “Come right back” — a burst of pathos that lands with real musical force rather than melodrama.
Why It’s Certified
What makes Chinook work isn’t the range of styles on display, it’s that none of them feel like a costume. The songs stay thematically locked on relational give-and-take and personal sacrifice no matter which sonic palette Hawk reaches for, and the arrangements — handled with real expertise by Acchione, Roth, and Palmedo — always serve that story first. This is a handcrafted alternative to whatever the algorithm wants you to hear next. Certified great.