Haley Heynderickx's Debut Album I NEED TO START A GARDEN Available for Streaming at NPR MUSIC Today

By: Feb. 22, 2018
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Haley Heynderickx's Debut Album I NEED TO START A GARDEN Available for Streaming at NPR MUSIC  Today

Since the release of the first single, "Oom Sha La La", in late 2017 Heynderickx 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."


Stereogum included Heynderickx in their Artist To Watch feature with an interview between Heynderickx and Stephen Deusner who called "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."

Stereogum summed up Haley's last single, "Worth It", by saying it "introduces mesmerizing guitar riff that keeps coming back among the peaks and valleys of raucous garage rock and soft contemplative hums" while Uproxx calls it "a perfect summary of Heynderickx's songwriting strengths, as she deftly turns a cooing ballad into a towering, epic force, handling both sides of the spectrum - and everything in between - with grace." Paste think it's "sprawling, emotional" while NPR Music say "Heynderickx's songs have a way of sneaking up on you: They start out spare, animated by a lone voice or a subtly snaky guitar line, only to billow out into something strange, beautiful, bracingly intense."

"Worth It" was picked up by the MTV's TRL, the New York Times had a track review by Jon Pareles and Simon Vozick-Levinson recommended her first ever New York, which sold out, while AdHoc, Brooklyn Vegan, The 405 and Under The Radar, What Youth and Line of Best Fit all featured the single. Heynderickx recorded a live session with Paste and a NPR Night Owl session at the beautiful King County Distillery. Haley's "Worth It" was also the most discussed track on HypeMachine the week of release.


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.

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.

Haley Heynderickx Tour Dates (more TBA)
03/01 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios with Vikesh Kapoor
03/12-18 - Austin, TX @ SxSW
3/21-25 -Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Festival
3/27 - Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar*
3/28 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway*
3/29 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Backroom at Colectivo Coffee*
3/30 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall*
3/31 - Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club*
4/01 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon*
4/03 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Hi-Fi*
4/04 - Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark*
4/05 - Toronto, ON @ Great Hall*
4/06 - Montreal, QC, CAN @ The Belmont*
4/07 - Kingston, NY @ BSP Lounge*
08/2-5 - Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon Music Festival
08/16-19 - Brecon Beacon, Wales @ Green Man Festival
* - with The Low Anthem



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