Hayden

In Field & Town

(Hardwood)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

In America, Hayden is an underrated singer/songwriter, but the Canadian press reports a voracious and loyal following there in his native country.  He’s never chased the mainstream carrots, and In Field & Town is another of those albums that’s perfectly content with its simple charms.  It’s largely acoustic and slow-burning – it may take a few listens to get under the skin, but there’s much to discover and enjoy here.

I was first drawn to Hayden in 1996, right around the time that he was getting some minor traction thanks to Everything I Long For.  The song that did best on that album was the deadbeat tale “Bad as They Seem,” but the song that dug into me was “We Don’t Mind,” an extremely stripped-down song that featured Hayden braying about playing hooky with his girlfriend and getting caught out in the rain.  It’s a song of small details and little wonders.  The presentation wasn’t especially pretty, but the effect was beautiful.

In Field & Town is the work of a more accomplished and evolved songwriter.  “Did I wake Up Beside You?” features some electric guitar work that recalls countryman Neil Young, while “Weight Of The World” is a stately, harmonized folk song enriched with harmonica.  “The Van Song” rides a jaunty hook on piano and features a lively vocal from Hayden, who can tend to get a little monotone sometimes, but shows more playfulness and range now than he did earlier in his career. 

The quintessential Hayden moment for me comes on “Damn This Feeling.”  Again, it’s not the poppiest or most accessible song – that would be “The Van Song” or “Where and When.”  “Damn This Feeling” begins with Hayden singing plaintively over piano, giving the lowdown on a painful breakup that left him out in the cold.  He comes to find that sympathy points can be pretty cool.

“Women adore me for the sad look in my eye,” he notes.  “But now they ignore me for getting on with my life.  Cuz I think I’m healing / Damn this feeling.”