Haley Heynderickx has been making waves with her self-described 'doom folk' since the release of 2016's 'Fish Eye' EP. Growing up in Oregon, Heyndrickx now resides in Portland where she has honed her craft and musical style by mixing a love of jazz radio with 60s and 70s folk influences. Released through Mama Bird Recording Co, 'I Need to Start a Garden' is her debut full-length LP.
The album opens with the beautifully intimate 'No Face' where the delicate tone of the record is instantly set. The solitary acoustic guitar intertwines perfectly with Heynderickx's vocal. Second track 'No Bug Collector' is another finger-picked track but this time Heynderickx's vocals are double-tracked giving the song a fuller sound accentuated by baritone brass sections and deep rolling percussion. The instrumentation has an insect-like feel here, scurrying and snapping to wonderfully mimic the lyrics. On 'Jo' the vocals are centred once again to create that great sense of intimacy before the album's centrepiece 'Worth It' is introduced. Clocking in at just under eight minutes, the track is sprawling and twisting epic that ebbs and flows with great intensity.
On 'Show You a Body' and 'Untitled God Song' Heynderickx takes it back to her acoustic roots until halfway through the latter where the band take centre stage to produce a moment of pure attitude and grit. 'Oom Sha La La' is probably the most 'pop' sounding tune on the record. Lyrically the track seems rather nonsensical before Heyndrickx loudly screams the album title over and over. The album closer 'Drinking Song' is another relaxed folk number to make the LP come full circle.
Even though the album is achingly short (it clocks in at thirty minutes with only eight tracks), Heynderickx has created a beautifully concise and charming body of work that is easily one of the best folk records to be released in 2018 so far.
8/10
Best track - The Bug Collector
Worst track - Show You a Body
Listen to 'Worth It' here
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