Hayden — Elk-Lake Serenade

Typically, it’s bad form for a reviewer to fawn over a new record. But fawn I will. Hayden’s latest serenade is an exercise in opposites — the music marries woe and hope and he moves seamlessly from the tragic tale of a camping excursion gone wrong to a cheeky pop song about a Hollywood starlet. The singer’s low rumbling growl is juxtaposed with a sweet, halting falsetto so that a feeling of cold emptiness elbows out one of overflowing warmth — it’s a pleasant ambiguity that at once jerks the heart and soothes the soul.

What is plainly resonant is Hayden’s simplicity of story and sound, and this is what charms. There are no tricks. His acoustic strumming meets with trumpet on "My Wife" and "Hollywood Ending," and the solemn piano opening to "Wide Eyes" — a lovely, aching first song — channels a forlorn Tom Waits. "Woody" is a gentle spring ditty with Hayden’s sleepy vocals and "Don’t Get Down" will make you want to run away with him and his harmonica. Simply perfect.

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