Us Alone
Arts & Crafts
2013
Rating: 7.5 corn chip nail tips out of 10
I'm not sure I've paid any attention to Hayden since 2001's "Skyscraper National Park," and to be honest the only album of his I listened to a lot was his debut from 1996, "Everything I Long For." I always enjoyed his sound, but then I'd forget about him as soon as I stopped listening. I'd make a joke about this being because he is Canadian, but my love of Barzin and Neil Young and the Constantines prevents me from making Canadian jokes with a straight face.
This new record of his, "Us Alone," makes me realize I probably never should have stopped paying attention. Honestly, it doesn't sound that much different from that first record of his I heard over 15 years ago, but there is a warmth and honesty to his music that always makes it feel fresh to me. This record could have come out at any time in his career, but I'm really happy to be hearing it right now. Like always the instrumentation is very sparse (for some reason I thnk of him as the Canadian country-folk version of Low, but it's highly likely I'm the only person on the planet who thinks that), the tempos slow, and Hayden's deep voice feels very comforting. I'm especially fond of the album opener "Motel," and my favorite track is "Old Dreams," which has a melody that worms it's way into your head for days after you hear it.
I probably need to start digging into his back catalog, to see what I've missed this past decade...
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