Born, bred and still living in Sheffield, Richard Hawley played in indie bands Treebound Story and the Longpigs, and live with Pulp, before becoming a solo artist 20 years ago. But after turning 50, this time he wanted to do things differently. And so he is set to release new album ‘Further’ in June. The songwriter’s eighth studio album really is a break with the past, his first for BMG and his first not to be named after a Sheffield landmark. Still largely constructed in the Steel City, Richard Hawley was aided by co-producers Colin Elliot and Shez Sheridan. “I really wanted to challenge myself to try to keep things relatively up-tempo and keep the songs to about three minutes long,” Hawley says openly, “I was asking myself ‘Can you get your message across like a bullet? Can you still do that?’ It’s quite a tough question to ask.”