Hayden - The Van SongAlbum: In Field & Town [2008]
this album goes great with a sunny february morning or afternoon, so here we are. thornhill's hayden spent the bulk of two decades creating uniquely affecting music through a combination of rock and folk flourishes, personal sentiments, and a voice that channeled both the falsetto highs of neil young and the wavering raspy low tones of leonard cohen. "in field in town" is similiar to iron & wine's "the sheperd's dog" in the way that hayden's hushed, lo-fi recordings finally gave way to technicolor lushness, just as sam beam's did. hayden spent more than a decade creating somber, subdued music, which makes the album such a startlingly pleasant change. he hasn't done away with the intimacy of his previous work, nor does the singer's seventh studio album change his melancholic nature. for all intents and purposes, it paints the same picture as "elk-lake serenade", but it does so with brighter colors and wider brush strokes, capturing the slow demise of a relationship with a mix of pianos, trumpets, guitars, vibraphones, harmonica, and percussion. it's always autumn or winter in hayden's world, and the tracks bypass the springlike feel of puppy love, focusing instead on the unraveling of hope and adoration. with all of it's emotions and variety, it's probably his best album front to back.
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