Haley Heynderickx Shares Second Single from Debut Album, 'Untitled God Song'

By: Jan. 16, 2018
Get Access To Every Broadway Story

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click.




Existing user? Just click login.

Haley Heynderickx Shares Second Single from Debut Album, 'Untitled God Song'

Haley Heynderickx's debut album has been long awaited in her home of Portland. Since the release of the first single, "Oom Sha La La", in 2017 she has been making waves and garnering best of and most anticipated lists from Uproxx, BIRP, NBHAP, Clunk Magazine, Various Small Flames and The Bluegrass Situation while also receiving a coveted spot on NPR's 'Slingshot' program. In their best tracks of 2017 OPB Music called "Oom Sha La La" "easily one of the year's most striking songs" while Uproxx predicted that "though this may not be a name that rings a bell at the end of 2017, it's going to be one of those ones that you'll hear everywhere in 2018."

Heynderickx's second single, "Untitled God Song", is an entrancing rumination on spirituality, focusing on the idea that perhaps there is no separation between the mundane and the cosmic, or the divine. As Heynderickx says "Growing up with a religious background, I always grappled with the idea of what God looked like. I mean this in a humorous sense. The older I get, the more convinced I am that God is just a busy mother trying to balance all the chaos around her, and I have no idea why but I do love this imagery. Maybe it's an allusion to my own mother, but please don't tell her that, she'll probably feel shy about these lyrics."

Today Stereogum has an Artist To Watch interview between Heynderickx and Stephen Deusner who calls "Untitled God Song" a "deeply contemplative, occasionally hilarious, spiritually provocative meditation into the nature of the Woman Upstairs." Deusner goes on to praise Heynderickx's songwriting saying "Heynderickx doesn't write songs to present answers or offer confessions. She writes instead to pose puzzling questions: about herself, about her world, about God and reincarnated bugs and someone named Jo. That approach has made her one of the most promising artists to come out of Portland in the last few years, and it makes I Need To Start A Garden one of the most intriguing and immersive debuts of this young year."

Heynderickx uses her songwriting as therapy, a sort of mandorla to bridge the gap between -- whether it be between her mixed Filipino and American roots, or the dichotomy of her soft spoken nature and her vocal power. I Need to Start a Garden is full of pure bursts of humanity, in all their beauty and all their rawness, documenting anxiety, pain and conversely healing, community and creation. I Need to Start a Garden, will be released March 2nd, 2018 via Mama Bird Recording Co. with a Pre-Order available HERE.

Mama Bird Recording Co. is a Portland, Ore. based record label committed to exceptional songcraft. Founded in 2011, their catalog includes acclaimed albums from Courtney Marie Andrews, Saintseneca, Barna Howard, Myriam Gendron and Vikesh Kapoor, among others.
I Need to Start a Garden Track Listing:
1. No Face
2. The Bug Collector
3. Jo
4. Worth It
5. Show You a Body
6. Untitled God Song
7. Oom Sha La La
8. Drinking Song
Haley Heynderickx will be at SXSW and TreeFort Music Festival in March with more tour dates TBA
Haley Heynderickx's Facebook - Twitter - Instagram


Videos