Hayden - Us Alone (2013)[FLAC]

Artist: Release: Us Alone
MusicBrainz: 7409c207-bdbc-48b3-95e5-9cb4ab3bc9b6
Released: 2013-02-05
Label: Arts & Crafts
Country: US

Tracklisting:

01. Motel (05:52)
02. Just Give Me a Name (04:10)
03. Blurry Nights (04:16)
04. Old Dreams (04:38)
05. Almost Everything (05:13)
06. Oh Memory (05:39)
07. Rainy Saturday (03:12)
08. Instructions (11:47)

Paul Hayden Desser has been strumming his guitar, singing his sad songs, and releasing albums on his own Hardwood Records imprint for 20 years now, and his longevity is as respectable as it is baffling. The Canadian singer-songwriter caused a brief buzz back in the mid 1990s with his debut, Everything I Long For, a minor alt-folk release in the Sebadoh or Beck vein. Since then, however, he hasn't had a hit song or a big album, nor has he shown up on a soundtrack or in a major ad campaign. His lyrics are precise and expressive, but he's not really a songwriter's songwriter. His range is limited, but he's not a cult artist either. In fact, his music tends to be understated to a fault: slow and mopey and not always reliable, like ca. 96 dial-up. And yet, here we are, talking about his latest effort, Us Alone.
This is his seventh album in 17 years, which is something. More importantly, it's his first release through the Canadian label Arts & Crafts, home to Broken Social Scene and all of its many offshoots. Such a signing could prompt some pop history revisionism, casting Hayden alongside some of his new labelmates as foundational to Toronto's indie rock scene. Sure, his music bears some superficial similarities to Feist, who also started out in the 90s. But he lacks her subdued spryness and-- more crucially-- her sense of melody; the relative quiet of her music conceals unruly emotions and provides a setting for her sonic experiments. Hayden is nowhere near as idiosyncratic. In fact, his closest contemporary analog might just be the likewise drowsy-voiced M. Ward, except without his throwback sensibilities and-- more crucially-- his sense of melody.
Despite the new label, Hayden hasn't beefed up his sound on Us Alone. Instead, he's pared down even more. He recorded these songs almost entirely by himself in his home studio, playing all of the instruments and emphasizing a live, textured sound that he says he hopes will be easier to replicate onstage. Even with fewer hands playing fewer instruments, the songs nevertheless sound leaden, ponderous, drowsy. Still, there are some inspired flourishes, like the hesitating guitar riff on "Rainy Saturday" or the church organ on "Oh Memory" or the vocals by Lou Canon on "Blurry Nights". She's a lively presence on the song, and her breathily expressive delivery makes her a good foil for the deadpan Hayden.
Opener "Motel" actually starts strong as Hayden describes a tryst between conflicted lovers, with synths bouncing around a simple drumbeat and a piano providing some languid drama. But there's no build, no direction. Even when he breaks the fourth wall on the last verse and speaks directly to the listener, the music doesn't react. Instead, it merely maintains, minding its own business and almost pointedly ignoring his lyrical gambit. If that song sets a melancholy tone for Us Alone, it also hints at its shortcomings. Too often the music just hangs there, possibly by design or more likely because Hayden is a limited instrumentalist (his drumming in particular is fairly rudimentary). As a result, these songs are heavy on atmosphere but low on dynamics, which completely deflates the meandering closer "Instructions".
About that last verse on "Motel": Perhaps Hayden intends that aside to the audience to be self-deprecating. "I can't go on pretending this song is about young lovers, born to run," he sings, "when it's clearly about you and me." Especially with that shoehorned shout-out to the Boss, it comes across as self-satisfied, almost smug in its cleverness-- a wink rather than a tear. Hayden treads a fine line here, writing explicitly as a musician managing romantic disappointments, but more often than not it gets away from him: "I don't want the bright lights, I don’t need more invites," he muses on "Old Dreams". "I don't need more reviews, not unless they're from you."
On the other hand, "Almost Everything", even with its nod to the title of his debut, is a clear-eyed origin story that recalls 1994 in all its promise: touring in a red Toyota Tercel, playing to crowds of seated fans, meeting a few of his heroes, allowing himself to believe he belongs in that world. It's a bittersweet reminiscence made all the more affecting by the mere fact that Hayden is still around to remember those days: "I'll admit that now and then, some nights when I'm strumming, or maybe just strumming, music's still everything." Then he thinks about his kid asleep upstairs and corrects himself: "Well, almost everything." Us Alone may not be the triumphant comeback he intended, but such candid confessions reveal why we're still talking about Hayden so many years later: He still (almost) believes.