Louis Schalk
Albuquerque’s A Hawk and a Hacksaw comes to Galisteo for two shows ahead of their forthcoming European tour.
As A Hawk and a Hacksaw, New Mexico natives Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost have created a melodious world based in the rich musical traditions of Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Turkey. Between them, Barnes and Trost have collaborated with the likes of Beirut; toured internationally with bands such as Calexico, Wilco, Of Montreal, Andrew Bird, Swans and Portishead; and have performed at prestigious events like All Tomorrow’s Parties, Roskilde and the Pitchfork Music Festival. Additionally, Barnes is a member of the iconic indie band Neutral Milk Hotel.
With a European tour on the horizon, accordionist Barnes and violinist Trost are slated to bid adieu to New Mexico with a pair of shows at the Galisteo Community Center on Saturday, Sept. 14, and Sunday, Sept. 15 alongside New Mexico’s very first Poet Laureate Levi Romero (Saturday’s show sold out shortly after this interview). Barnes and Trost spoke with SFR in the leadup to those shows. This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.
SFR: It’s been some time since A Hawk and a Hacksaw’s 2018 album, Forest Bathing. What have you been up to since then?
Heather Trost: I released two solo albums under my name Petrichor on Third Man Records, and the latest, called Desert Flowers, on Badabing Records. Jeremy co-produced and recorded those albums. I also teach kids music lessons, violin and piano. We also worked on a soundtrack for Peter Strickland’s film Flux Gourmet.
Jeremy Barnes: We decided to take a break from touring in 2019. 2020 was the first year I hadn’t toured since 1995. I have been more focused on recording…I have a little studio where we recorded Heather’s albums and also an album by AJ Woods that just came out, as well as two records by Jordan Wax from Lone Piñon that will come out in 2025, among other things. I started a new project called Human Error that will be released by a label called Astral Spirits in November. During the pandemic, I taught recording and songwriting to incarcerated teenagers and refugee youth from Syria, Afghanistan, Tanzania and Iraq who are now living in New Mexico.
Can you talk about your EU tour and where you will be performing?
Trost: We are playing in the UK, Poland, Prague, Lisbon, Italy and Greece. It has been a long time since we did shows in Europe. Our last tour was in Japan in 2018, and then the pandemic happened. We had already planned on taking a break from touring. It has given us a chance to work on other projects and interests and take time to connect with our home here in some really meaningful ways. But we are looking forward to playing live again.
You have both lived and toured in many places around the world. What brings you back to New Mexico?
Trost: Jeremy and I were born in New Mexico. It’s a beautiful land, and the people are also what brings us back. We have friends and family here, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else in the US—it’s definitely home. Music has allowed us to connect with people all over. It’s a universal language that connects humans. Leaving home makes us appreciate it more, but also allows us to experience new cultures and sounds and make new friends.
How do you navigate being respectful of the cultures by which your music is inspired? And how have you been received by the people in those cultures?
Trost: We try to always acknowledge our influences and come from a place of deep respect and love—and of course, when we play a traditional song we credit where it’s from.
Barnes: We’ve done a lot of shows in the Balkans, and it’s always been wonderful. We’ve played weddings in Bucharest; we played at a pub in a rural Roma village in the far north of Romania; we’ve played in Istanbul; toured Bulgaria—but we are very aware of our position as outsiders.
You worked on the soundtrack for the documentary Zizek!, as well as an Albanian TV show called Skanderbeg, and recently performed a live soundtrack for Sergei Parajanov’s 1964 film, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Are you interested in working with film in the future and are there any filmmakers with whom you’d like to work?
Trost: We enjoy putting our music to moving pictures. I mentioned…we worked with Peter Strickland on his last movie Flux Gourmet. We also wrote music for a short film he had in a collection of short horror films based on folk tales from different countries. His was a tale from Hungary called The Cobbler’s Lot. He also made a music video for our song “The Magic Spring.” There are a lot of directors I would love to work with—Coen Brothers and Ben Wheatley, to name a few.
New Mexico’s first-ever Poet Laureate Levi Romero will be opening for you. How did this come to happen?
Trost: We have known Levi for a few years now, and really love his poetry and writing. He edited a book of essays recently called Querencia: Reflections on the New Mexico Heartland which is beautiful. Levi creates an atmosphere of reflection, magical realism, reverence and awe through his poems that I think will be a wonderful way to open the space and the evening.
Barnes: Levi lives close to us in the South Valley. I love his poetry. He’s so good live! I’m scared to go on after him.
What are you currently reading, watching or listening to?
Trost: I’ve been obsessed with Leonora Carrington’s writing and artwork for a few years now. I also just finished reading Miranda July’s latest book All Fours, which I enjoyed. [I am] listening to a lot of ‘70s Turkish music—always: Selda, Mogollar, Derdiyoklar and Nese Karaböcek to name a few.
Barnes: I’m reading Respect Yourself, about Stax records. I’m listening to Dhana Jeera from Athens, Water Damage from Austin; Toni Iordache, Ion Dragoi, Marin Mexicanu, Ion Albesteanu, Victor Gore, Romica Puceanu…
A Hawk and a Hacksaw with Levi Romero: 7 pm Saturday, Sept. 14, and 5 pm Sunday, Sept. 15. $15-$20 (tickets through holdmyticket.com) Galisteo Community Center 35 Avenida Vieja, Galisteo ahawkandahacksaw.bandcamp.com
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Barnes as a Neutral Milk Hotel collaborator when he is a full-fledged member of that band.
