Haley Heynderickx

I Need to Start a Garden

It took Portland, OR songwriter Haley Heynderickx three tries to record her debut, I Need to Start a Garden: the first, on a freezing cold farm, where a horse died during one of the takes; the second, in a conventional studio, where she was anxious about money; and finally, at a friend’s studio that only existed briefly, but enabled the vulnerability and presence required. Heynderickx wanted to recreate how she felt while she was writing I Need to Start a Garden, and she accomplishes that excellent trick of time travel.

“The Bug Collector” shows off her playful lyrical side — she’s calming down someone who’s freaked out — while also showing off her band: rustling percussion and swooning horns personify the bugs around her opentuned descending, clucking guitar part. Nature, bugs, gardens and particularly bees show up a lot — the image of a honeycomb holding something (bee or human life) occurs at a few key moments. She doesn’t state it explicitly, but a reverence for nature is on offer here as an alternative spirituality, or a form of therapy. In “Untitled God Song,” she imagines the Divine as a woman with a knockoff Coach bag pushing buttons and speaking all languages. “I need to start a garden!” she practically screams at the crux of “Oom Sha La La,” a totally charming, sashaying stream of consciousness doo-wop song full of self-deprecating humour and idiosyncratic details. Heynderickx works through self-doubt more seriously on eight-minute centrepiece “Worth It,” which understandably has garnered Angel Olsen comparisons. When you get to the grungy, almost Nirvana-like climax, you’re actually only at the midsection. It’s the kind of honest, vulnerable and meditative performance that could only have happened in the right place at the right time. (Mama Bird, www.mamabirdrecordingco.com)