featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
November 12, 2024
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
These days there are few avenues for music discovery more successful than TikTok. To their credit, TikTok has created unconventional success stories over the past couple years, resurrecting songs from the past, or highlighting niche and non-mainstream artists like Haley Heynderickx, whose 2018 "Bug Collector" made unlikely waves on the site. Over three-hundred thousand TikTok videos have been created to date from the Portland folk artist's song, giving her I Need To Start a Garden the staying power of singer-songwriters ten times more successful on the mainstream market. Which might or might not explain the six years between her full-length debut and her new project, Seed Of a Seed (Mama Bird, Nov 1).
Judging by concert videos, Haley Heynderickx has been road testing songs from Seed for some time, appearing alone with her guitar or onstage with an assortment of accompanists. During that time she has also apparently become a more confident artist and performer, channeling a sometimes awkward stage presence to playfulness, working with producer Andrew Stonestreet to build more thoughtful and more engaging instrumental arrangements. "Gemini" introduces her new collection with as involved a tune as she's released to date. Moving between her punched acoustic to cello, drums, and electric guitar, the opener portrays the singer conflicting with her younger self, recognizing the things she has sacrificed with age: There's a woman in the corner / Who makes me pull the fuck over / Just to stare at a purple clover off the highway. The song sets the stage for the session to come, a reckoning for what's been lost in our disconnect with the natural world, what we carry forward from family or friends, how we might be able to achieve some traction.
The songs on Seed Of a Seed aren't accusatory or prescriptive as much as they're observational, noting on the title cut, Did my parents know better / No, but they tried. Like Regina Spektor, Heynderickx's delivery can be pretty, though she never rests there, alternating between singing and playful spoken passages. On "Jerry's Song", reportedly written for producer Stonestreet, we see all facets, from quirky to tender, equally expressive: We were troubadours / Stuck in traffic / Twenty-on thousand miles we put in the basket / And to drive across divided America while still splitting a sandwich. The cumulative effect lends the singer an air of originality, especially when witnessed in a live setting where her choices seem to be made on a whim.
The band approaches songs like a small chamber ensemble, the lower end described by Caleigh Drane's cello, Daniel Rossi's percussion, and Matthew Holmes' bass, joined by William Seji Marsh adding selective touches on electric guitar. All players support Heynderickx's notable acoustic fingerpicking around which her songs revolve. "Sorry Fahey" features her creative fingerpicking alongside brushed snare, bass, and trombone, stop/start rhythms typical of her occasional twists and turns as she navigates the detritus of her early thirties: Your old bed / Your old couch / Your old black cat / Who's an asshole. Heynderickx's fingerpicking on "Swoop" is exquisite, the tune ticking off lessons learned from her mother and grandmother: There is an artistry / In the day-to-day, to day, to day.
In the light of her debut full-length, Seed Of a Seed embraces bolder choices, musically as well as lyrically. The galloping "Foxglove" yearns for the simplicity of a life lived in nature, the singer observing, We grow tired over and overthinking. One of the record's strongest accomplishments, "Redwoods (Anxious God)" reminds us of the abandoned practice of communing with nature, learning from conversations with flora and fauna. Man, she sings, I'd do anything to hear the redwoods talk. The percussive arrangement frames one of Heynderickx's most expressive vocals: Humankind is getting lost / Not even little bugs want to talk with us. Since her 2018 debut, the songwriter has transitioned from wonder to wisdom. As she has commented about the evolution between her twenties and thirties, You still feel confused, but you just feel more confident in your confusion. There is a strong sense of direction on Seed Of a Seed, the feeling that Haley Heynderickx's next record won't be six years in the waiting, and might prove even more adventurous.
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