Back in 2016, we wrote about Fish Eyes, an EP from Portland’s Haley Heynderickx. The release consisted of four lyrical folk songs magnified into something larger, various additional instrumentation and electric flourishes transforming the sound into a kind of rock hybrid, and allowing the feeling behind the songs to be more fully realised.
Heynderickx is currently putting the finishing touches on her debut full-length album, I Need to Start a Garden, to be released at the beginning of the new year. To whet our appetites, today sees the release of the lead single, ‘Oom Sha La La’, a track that combines lyrical complexity with an over-arching sense of effortlessness. Bobbing along with a carefree refrain (“Oom sha la la, oom sha la la,” etc.), the song lulls the listener into a false sense of security, the urgency and intensity of Heynderickx’s vocals feeling therefore all the more visceral and surprising. This escalates into the closing segment, where the manic desperation of the vocals escalates into yelps, Heynderickx’s voice breaking under the conviction of her words.
I Need to Start a Garden is set for release on Mama Bird Recording Co. at the beginning of 2018.
