Hawk began his career in 2012 while he was a student at the University of St Andrews, and released his debut solo record, Aznavour (2014), under the mentorship of Scottish musician King Creosote, who produced the album.

A year later he formed a band to back him up during live performances, and played with them under the name Hamish Hawk & the New Outfit.

His music taste was shaped by what his family listened to, his parents loved the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Bob Marley, James Taylor and Cat Stevens, his sister was "a Britpop fan", while his older brother introduced him to bands like Pixies.

[3][8] As a child Hawk was a Disney fan, discovering bands like Franz Ferdinand, the Strokes, and the White Stripes in his teens.

[9][3][10] Hawk loved performing and thought of getting into acting, he applied for drama school at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, but was unsuccessful.

[13][9] At the end of high school he had formed a band called Little Egypt with schoolmate, and future bassist, Alex Duthie and friend Ewan Douglas.

In 2012 he published his first EP "Moon Out West" under his full name, Hamish James Hawk, on indie label Common Records.

[15][18][19] He recalled his first show "was an extremely short set made up entirely of covers", including two Arctic Monkeys songs, at Studio 24 in Edinburgh.

[11] Hawk met musician Kenny Anderson, best known as King Creosote, at one of those gigs on campus, and passed him a ten-song demo he had recorded, looking for advice.

[20] After Anderson asked Hawk to support him at a gig at the Perth Concert Hall, he started a backing band "to bulk up the sound and amp up the volume".

Hawk recruited friends Andrew Pearson on guitar, Alex Duthie on bass, John Cashman on keys, Stefan Maurice on synths and accordion, and Barry Carty on drums.

[22][9][13] Shortly after, Hawk applied for a job at the Assai Records Edinburgh store, and handed the owner a 10" copy of the EP.

He spent those six weeks writing and three songs, China & Down, Swannanoa and Jackie O. were released later that year, as part of a handmade CD of which only 50 copies were made.

[36][37][38] The follow up to Heavy Elevator was an EP Covers, which featured four renditions of, The Jesus and Mary Chain's Happy When It Rains, Courtney Barnett’s Need a Little Time, Leonard Cohen's Suzanne and The Smiths' Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want.

[53][54] The same day the album was announced, its first single, "Big Cat Tattoos", premiered on Steve Lamacq’s BBC Radio 6 Music show.

[56] Hawk performed solo as a support act for Villagers on ten dates of their European tour through late May and early June.

[60] On July 21, the band supported Elbow on their show at Englefield House,[61] and will join Travis on several dates in August and December, across the UK and Europe.

[62][63] Produced by Jones at Post Electric Studios, A Firmer Hand, was released on 16 August via So Recordings and Fierce Panda.

[69] In January 2025, Hawk appeared at the Rockaway Beach Festival, and covered two tracks at the Celtic Connections' Roaming Roots Revue in Glasgow.

[7][15][72] He has named Stephen Fretwell as an influence as he encountered his music while learning guitar chords for the first time, "That record [Magpie] was it.

[73] Hawk credited Arctic Monkeys for inspiring him to explore new sounds: "They really did take something from the indie movement, but consistently, in my mind, do it better than all of their contemporaries.

[75] Hawk has said some of his favourite albums are Antony and The Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now (2005), The White Stripes' self titled record (1999), The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs (1999), Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out of This Country (2006), Withered Hand's Good News (2009), Bill Callahan's Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (2009), Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks (1975), Purple Mountains' self titled (2019) and The Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).

[76] Some of his lyrical heroes include, Leonard Cohen, Stephin Merritt, Randy Newman, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Dory Previn, Vic Chesnutt[23] and Neil Tennant.

Although at the beginning of his career Hawk wrote all his music alone, now along with guitarist Andrew Pearson, and drummer Stefan Maurice, they function as a songwriting unit.

[12] When asked if he would label himself as an openly gay or LGBT artist, he said: "I don’t care to define myself in any particular way [...] I think that’s likely because I spent years trying to do just that, and it caused me no end of internal turmoil.