HAYLEY HUTCHINSON - 'INDEPENDENTLY BLUE'
(album/ R N R MUSIC)
This 12-track, 43-minute album is packed with some of the most beautiful and heart-breaking songs that I've heard in years, and singer-songwriter Hayley - now living and working from her base in York after a childhood brought up in Scotland - is only in her early twenties. Listening to these astonishing tunes, all of which are morally astute and emotionally captivating, you'd think that Hayley has lived through a lifetime of experiences in order to produce such engaging and touching songs. But no, she's young� and quite simply beyond-her-years in maturity.
The daughter of John Hutchinson (who played and toured with David Bowie in the early 70's and who is presently playing his own solo material and gigs in and around Yorkshire), Hayley calls on both her dad and ex-Seahorses member Chris Helme to be just two of the many special guest musicians that feature on her album, along with Shed 7 drummer Alan Leach for her 'Here's The Love' tune.
The album opens with one of its catchiest numbers in 'Deadman,' a lush and vibrant acoustic-based song in which the overall musical vibes share much in common with Sheryl Crow's earlier, mid-90's days. 'Climb Through' is a far more fragile and delicately soulful lullaby of a tune, that's subtly melodic but oh so sublime and touching, and is in fact quite a technically complex arrangement, involving as it does at least two guitar parts and strains of cello neatly packed behind Hayley's extraordinary and distinctive voice.
The title track, meanwhile, in 'Independently Blue' is just as anthemic and catchy as 'Deadman,' propelled by a great drumbeat, a background banjo that sounds sultry and pure 'Country'-styled roots. This is before her 'Minor Key' hears yet another different instrument brought into the album's fray, as the sound of Dobro hits some exquisite notes.
This, Hayley's debut album, really is a masterpiece of exceptional songcraft. Long has she been musically inclined, after been inspired to start fiddling around with the art of songwriting around the age of thirteen when she got her first keyboard. A year later, circa 1995, and she was singing in a band called Freeb (an outfit that split up largely due to the fact that the other members were slightly older than Hayley and had different types of personal responsibilities to attend to). After Freeb split, she concentrated her efforts into learning to play the guitar, and the year 2000 heard the emergence of her first demo recording which was championed by BBC radio's Bob Harris in due course, and the very fact that she didn't rush into releasing her first album proper is reflected in the fact that all songs included on 'Independently Blue' are diverse, wistful and played and sung intimately� as though she really does cherish the songs that she writes. Still, the actual recording of the album - somewhat ironically - was completed in just six days.
Other album highlights include 'I Have To Say I Love You,' in which she sounds at her most serious and hopefully romantic, and 'Fall Down'� the latter tune being borne out of a spellbinding fusion of acoustic guitar and piano melodies, sublimely creating time and space for Hayley's voice to drift into proceedings in a thoroughly angelic manner. Hell, in this instance she sounds to an incredible degree like all-singing and songwriting genius Tori Amos. Yes - Hayley's voice does have that much unforgettable impact.
'Say My Goodbyes,' in its wake, busts further heartstrings courtesy of a strong acoustic-based riff and her pensive ponderings. 'What's love? What's it for?'
One thing for sure, when all is sung and done, is that Hayley Hutchinson is a young, beautiful and immensely talented singer-songwriter, producing material that's genuinely in a league of its own. As a result, her father - along with everybody else who hears her - surely cannot help but smile on and be proud.
So listen out� for this is my favourite album of 2004. 5/5
(Steve Rudd)
www.hayleyhutchinson.co.uk www.rnrmusic.com
Release Date: September 6th 2004.
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