Haley Heynderickx
Seed of a Seed
Release Date: Nov 1, 2024
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Folk
Record label: Mama Bird Recording Co.
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Album Review: Seed of a Seed by Haley Heynderickx
Excellent, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 4.1/5
Looks like the garden is coming along quite nicely. Six years is a long time to continuously nurture and maintain a garden, but Haley Heynderickx has been doing so under our noses this entire time. Ever since she put out her critically acclaimed debut LP I Need to Start a Garden back in 2018, Heynderickx has been dropping little bits and bites of what we'd eventually see on the tracklist of Seed of a Seed. A few live performances here, a few studio performances there… and eventually, these seeds (pun intended) grew into the record you now see before you.
Based on rating 8/10
Like the great folk singers before her, Heynderickx's music centres on poetic introspection. Her words are profound, at times stark, juxtaposed with the comforting, tender quality of her sound. Her 2018 debut, I Need to Start a Garden, showcased her lyrical prowess through songs like "The Bug Collector." Six years later comes Seed of a Seed, and it's a revelation.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Oregon's Haley Heynderickx arrived on the scene in the midst of the indie folk explosion that was 2016-2018. Giants like Fleet Foxes, Big Thief, Bon Iver, and an upstart Phoebe Bridgers walked the land. Presuming you missed Heynderickx's self-released Fish Eyes EP, she landed squarely in the folky fury at the beginning of 2018 with her debut album, I Need to Start a Garden.
Opinion: Fantastic
In the six years since the release of Haley Heynderickx's inward-looking, stripped back debut 'I Need To Start A Garden', there have certainly been no shortage of global crises that have driven humankind even further into the lucent, addictive hidey-hole of their smartphones. On this offering 'Seed Of A Seed', the Portland-based singer-songwriter lures us away from our dark, screen-lit rooms and instead down a verdant garden path of delicate and thoughtful folky treasures, shining the crisp daylight on society's ever-dwindling connection with the tangible, natural world. Utilising an intricate fingerpicking style often reminiscent of seminal folk forbearers like Bert Jansch or John Fahey - the latter of which is even referenced in loose homage 'Sorry Fahey' - there's a timelessness to her arrangements, bolstered by a wide range of instrumentation that gives Haley's soft, musing compositions a sense of grandeur.
'Seed of a Seed'
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