Cool Kids

Everyone’s favourite local geezer is back! East Londoner Hak Baker continues to sound like no one else on his deeply affecting and sonically expansive ‘Cool Kids’. 

Hak has built a cult fan base with his raw, idiosyncratic and expressive sound. Impossible to pin down stylistically, the Isle of Dogs native combines folk, punk, rap and spoken word to create moods full of rigid ambience and stark emotion. Since dropped his debut studio album, ‘Babylon’, in 2019, we’ve had to settle for mainly featured appearances from Hak throughout the past 2 years. Standout appearances include a deft feature on The Streets’ 2020 album ‘Falling Down’, as well as the recent link up with the superb Rachel Chinouriri for ‘November’. Finally, Baker makes his long awaited return, with the accompanying news of a brand new EP!

Poignancy and social commentary gush though the focused writing, as Hak elegantly weaves through his narrative with nuanced introspection. The instrumental, produced with Subculture, is an evolution from Hak’s earlier material, with a more electronic and cinematic approach than the stripped back, acoustic driven timbre of ‘Babylon’. Despite this, the track still feels distinctively and authentically Hak, with his gruff, one-of-a-kind tone a constant reminder of his fresh, invigorating individuality. 

The accompanying video, shot by Will Robson-Scott, is an adept accessory for the gritty track, with the visual switching between shots of Hak and a teenage character, who seems desperate to leave his current situation, searching for a better existence. 

For me, it’s difficult to think of many artists more quintessentially British than Hak Baker. I can’t wait for the EP.