I haven’t talked enough about the greatness of the new Hayden album Hey Love. It has been a real grower for me during the year. I did like it from the get go, but it still felt a little bit dissapointing after masterful Us Alone. Where were my ears and especially heart last spring? What an ignorant twat I really was. This is an amazing piece of music. It is one of the albums that will subtly break your heart into thousand pieces and then puts them back together in such a beautiful way that you still end up feeling more whole than before listening. Hey Love has so much to love. Great songs, carefully crafted instrumentation and Hayden’s voice that will melt an iceberg or two and so much more. My favourites are Orange Curtain Light and especially the opener Hearts Just Beat. It’s dreadfully cliche-ish, but that song makes me want to be a better person. This however is another beauty called Troubled Times. Hey Love came out last spring on the great Arts & Crafts label.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=q_Hkun6c1TM]
I also recommend this gorgeous live at Massey Hall video.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cCgpSLL6TO0]
I was extremely addicted to Widower’s Fool Moon album a couple of years ago. Thoroughbred ended up taking the song of the year award and I still hold that album very dear. If you need a shoulder to cry on, Fool Moon is there for you. The new EP Dark Blue is another beautiful tearjerker and available from his Bandcamp for the price you decide. This is Your Copy of The Catcher in Rye from the Dark Blue EP.
Staying on the dark, but beautiful side of things. Claire Cronin is a new find for me. I stumbled upon her Over and Through album a couple of weeks ago and instantly fell for it. Label Ba Da Bing Records threw in names like Jason Molina and Karen Dalton. Of course Claire is not that good. Nobody is that good. But this is rather remarkable, captivating and amazing album. It’s certainly not for everyone as things tend to get pretty dark occasionally. Thankfully Claire’s beautiful voice keeps the devil just out of reach.
I look forward to hearing Claire Cronin’s full band debut due out next spring. It could be something very special. Not that there’s anything wrong with the bare lo-fi approach of this one. It actually fits perfectly to this music. This is They Say from Over and Through.