The EP opens with ‘Drinking Song’, a track which began life as a simple, finger-picked number but is here brought to life with full instrumentation. There is an ebb and flow to the rhythm, the lyrics expanding into hummed harmonies before contracting back into words which snap, taunt feeling, and relax once more. “There’s a light at the end where I smoke,” she sings, quite breezily, before the impassioned continuation. “And you’re name puffs and colours with people I know / and the song that was stuck in her head becomes all the words you forget”.

‘First I’m Sorry’ is almost Mitski-esque, a folk song electrified and submerged in reverb from which Heynderickx’s warbled vocals leap and dive. Detailing a change of heart or mind, the track accelerates gradually, as if the confidence in her words grows as the song progresses, before slowing into a quiet clarity in the final lines.

“Mother knows I drown in my lies
Father knows I learned my lesson the second time.
Ask me where I’ll go I’ll say do not know
No, I do not know”

Here, Heynderickx’s describes a sense certainty which cannot be explained, a gut feeling, a belief that change can be right without possessing any answers or plans. The title track sees this flipped on its head, the pace dropping and ambiguity flooding into the spaces between notes. The intricate guitar and slow, steady thump of percussion lends an air of dusty Americana, and the whole song is cloaked in something strange, the vague menace of Southern Gothic backwoods. “Am I down in the river bed this time” she sings, “picking fish heads and eating out their eyes?” The understated vocals and hushed harmonies rise toward a tumultuous finale, where guitar and drums run a frenzied race leaving Heynderickx to shout through the squall. Closer ‘Sane’ emerges with renewed hope, returning to a point of comfort as an anchor against the anxiety and confusion in an Angel Olsen-style folk/rock hybrid, which is somehow vulnerable and defiant all at once.

“Why am I frightened if it’s all just a game?
But the look in your eyes kept me sane”

If that doesn’t convince you that Haley Heynderickx is worth your time, then listen to the Fish Eyes EP in its entirety below and see for yourself.

Fish Eyes EP will be released on the 29th January and you can pre-order it now via the Haley Heynderickx Bandcamp page. Heynderickx’s Facebook page hints at a full-length later this year, so keep your fingers crossed and eyes peeled.

Artwork by Hasmood

The post Album Première: Haley Heynderickx – Fish Eyes EP appeared first on Various Small Flames.