discography – Page 3

Christmas In Haworth

Posted on 25th December 20115th February 2016 by darren

Originally released December 2011 on Fika Recordings.

A six-track 10-inch EP with a hand-printed sleeve, Christmas In Haworth features four songs – ‘The Christmas Wars’, ‘Lost In The Snow’, ‘Christmas In The Boiler Room’ and ‘Photos Like Postcards’ – written and recorded in Haworth, West Yorkshire, during Christmas 2010. ‘Branwell’ was recorded the following July, and ‘Ruby’s House’ was written and recorded (in Ruby’s House) in June. The EP accompanies Darren and Tom from Fika Recordings’ curated digital advent calendar of Christmas songs, which is still available at http://www.fikarecordings.com/christmasinhaworth/

The Ship’s Piano

Posted on 17th October 201111th August 2018 by theehaircut

Released 17th October 2011 via FortunaPOP

In November 2009 I had this thing happen to me, where I ended up in hospital with a fractured skull. For a few months I felt constantly dizzy and was diagnosed with some deafness in one ear. Sharp loud noises bothered me greatly. I was told to rest and do nothing, but who knows how to do that?

Music always helps when I’m ill, so I started to make the simplest, quitest music to help me recuperate. I tried to make the music that I wanted to hear, which is perhaps what we should always be doing, but in this case there was a direct therapeutic need.

I avoided any jagged edges. I kept imagining the sounds I wanted as round and smooth, like well-worn pebbles.

Lyrically I also found myself eschewing conceptual and metaphoric character led songs. I started to write the simplest and most direct words in the first person, something I have avoided for a few years.

If you are a songwriter and something bad happens to you, people say, “You can write a song about it at least.” They mean well, but the big events in life have to seep out gradually with me and not in urgent, confessional bursts. The songs on this record are pleas for calm. As I get older I find I prefer small, quiet things.

All the songs were written on my ship’s piano. ‘Ship’s Piano’ is a colloquial term given to small-scale pianos that were used on boats. Mine was built in France in 1933 and folds away to resemble a sideboard. I wrote a song where I imagine its history. It’s called ‘The Ship’s Piano’.

Buy Ship’s Piano on CD

Buy Ship’s Piano on vinyl with download code

Or download from Bandcamp for £6.50 here:

The Ship’s Piano – Related records

I Taught You How To Dance

Originally released 21st November 2011 on Fortuna Pop.

‘I Taught You How To Dance’ is the sole single from The Ship’s Piano. Sweet, gentle, and with just a hint of sexual tension, it offers an ideal sampler of the warmth and complexity of Darren’s solo piano album. ‘I Taught You How To Dance’ is available on 10-inch 4-track single only, and also features three covers of other songs with ‘Dance’ in the title: ‘Dance Away’ by Roxy Music, ‘I Don’t Want To Dance’ by Eddy Grant and ‘Come Dancing’ by the Kinks.

Buy I Taught You How To Dance on 10-inch vinyl

Vostok 5

Posted on 1st September 201111th August 2018 by darren

Vostok 5 was an exhibition of art and music about people and animals in space, displayed between the 1st and 7th of September 2011 at the Outside World Gallery in Shoreditch, and organised by a collective including Darren, Duncan Barrett (Tigercats), Sarah Lippett (Fever Dream), Paul Rains (Hexicon, Allo Darlin’), and Robert Rotifer (Rotifer). A 9-track CD was released featuring exclusive space songs by all the artists, including Darren’s contributions, ‘A Breeze And A Little Piece Of Coal’ and ‘Little Arrow And Little Squirrel. The sleeve folds out into a screenprinted poster. More information on the album is available here.

Buy Vostok 5 on CD

Or buy downloads via Bandcamp for £3 with some extra tracks

<a href="http://darrenhayman.bandcamp.com/album/vostok-5">Vostok 5 by Various</a>

Madrid

Posted on 30th March 200911th August 2018 by darren

Released 30 March 2009

I met the Wave Pictures in 2006 at the Walthamstow Festival. Didn’t I? I saw Franic down Brick Lane putting Wave Pictures posters up. I thought ‘that rings a bell’.

Hang on, no, I met Dave Tattersall a year earlier than that. He came to a gig that just me and Amos did in Glasgow. I remember him telling me I was a bit rude because I was more interested in talking to John from the Yummy Fur and the 1990’s. Dave had been sending me Wave Pictures CDs for a few years before that even. I remember not linking them at first. It’s rare that any of would give something a second listen, but Dave’s charm is a forceful thing you can’t say no to the guy. I started to like him and the Wave Pictures. He sent me an email telling me how he’d split up from his girl. It was self-pitying or fanny, just honest and matter of fact. I thought it an odd thing to do, but I replied and Dave has since told me it was odd that I replied. It feels to me that the first time I met the Wave Pictures was in Walthamstow. I spoke to them a while. They had moved to London. My wife said I was showing off in front of them, trying to look like the big man. They hung around the Duke of Uke, which is where I hang too. I had a tour to do in Spain and Sweden and because they were Hefner fans I thought I could get them to be my band for cheap.

They said, yes. The tour certainly had its ups and downs. Hard drives, some sparse gigs. They made me feel old, with their energy and optimism. One night I was watching their set and I realised that they were really, really good. In Barcelona some shit happened and the WPs got screwed around, I realised whilst shouting at the promoter that I cared about the Wave Pictures and they were my friends. This show was recorded by the desk engineer on the Madrid show of that tour, a happy accident. It has its faults, that’s why its cheap.

Buy Madrid on CD (includes P and P)

Or buy the download from Bandcamp for £4.99

Pram Town

Posted on 26th January 200911th August 2018 by darren

Released 26 January 2009

‘Pram Town’ was an affectionate name given to Harlow, Essex in the early 1950s. It was coined to reflect the sudden influx of young families to the ‘New Town’. New Towns were built in the aftermath of the Second World War. New Towns were designed for modern and future life and intended to be the antidote to the city.

But towns aren’t designed; they evolve. Concrete crumbles and plastic cracks and all the civic amenities in the world couldn’t put a heart into Harlow. As everybody on my street put faux Tudor leading on their windows and dreamt no longer of modernity, I escaped to London.I didn’t grow up in Harlow. I grew up in nearby Brentwood. I lived on a late-1960’s housing estate designed with the same Le Corbusier/Bauhaus aesthetics and ideals. I love and loathe these places. When seen on paper they are the streamlined epitome of the past’s future vision. When newly built, their pristine simplicity made homeowners glow with pride.

‘Pram Town’ is a set of songs about someone who doesn’t escape. A big fish in a little pond who is thrown a lifeline whilst fare-evading in a first class train carriage.

This record is about good ideas gone bad. It’s about how pride can lose you love. It’s about high and low ambition and the gap between.

Released January 26th 2009

REVIEWS FOR PRAM TOWN

‘Played straight from the heart…this is a gorgeous album.’ – Word

‘A charming tale with melodies that will buzz around your head in the cold weeks to come.’ – Narc Magazine

‘Heartbreaking’ – Q Magazine

‘These 50 minutes of bittersweet prettiness are a delight…it utterly charms…nearly has me in tears.’ – Plan B (magazine)

‘A high rise Robyn Hitchcock backed by Belle and Sebastian this is indie worthy of the name.’ – Financial Times

‘This is by far the most accomplished solo album from Hayman and evidence that age is helping the songwriter explore rich, virgin territory. Long may it continue.’ – Culture Bully / Fresh Deer Meat websites.

‘…driving home this morning I had to pull over as tears started prickling at my eyelids.’ – Everett True – The Guardian

‘…deserves to be hailed as a minor classic – the guy is a jewel in England’s musical crown and this is his best yet.’ – National Student Magazine. ‘One of his most creative and peculiarly tender albums yet.’ – The Fly

Buy Pram Town on CD

Or buy the downloads from bandcamp for £5.50

Songs for Harmonium and Drum Machine

Posted on 1st December 20085th February 2016 by darren

Originally released December 2008 on p572 Records. p572 records, run by Samuel Murdock, is a Canadian label based in Quebec. When Samuel suggested Darren make a conceptual EP to be released on vinyl, Darren wrote four songs about some of the actors forming the 1980s brat pack: Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy.

Buy the downlaods for £1.50 at Bandcamp.

Great British Holiday EPs

Posted on 4th August 200811th August 2018 by darren

Released 4th August 2008

Between 2005 and 2007 Darren released four EPs detailing his holidays in Britain, taking ukuleles, minidisks and Casio keyboards to caravan parks, Butlins and B&Bs. The songs are sweet and tender, lo-fi vignettes of lost youth, faded photographs and half-understood Britishness.

Also included is a DVD featuring 5 videos and an interview with Darren about the project shot on the coast in Kent.This is quite a package: as well as featuring all of the EP songs and all the original artwork in a 16 page booklet, Darren has recorded 3 holiday cover versions; Holiday Road (originally by Lyndsey Buckingham from the film National Lampoons Vacation), Margate (originally by Chas and Dave) and V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N. (originally by Connie Francis)

Buy the Great British Holiday EPs on CD and DVD.

Buy this on download from Bandcamp for 6.99

Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee

Posted on 6th May 200811th August 2018 by darren

Released 6th May 2008

Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee are a country, bluegrass band from East London. They don’t sing in American accents and their songs feature tube trains, Bethnal Green, sick days, flat lemonade and unmade beds. HWTL perform weary singalongs; fragile and flawed ballads that wipe a tear and force you to smile.

Darren Hayman (ex Hefner) formed the band with Dave Watkins, in 2005, as an antidote to their ‘career’ bands. The idea was that this would be a band with as little ego as possible, with everybody taking vocals, submitting material, leaving and arriving as they wished. The group is as much about playing around Darren’s kitchen table as it is playing on any stage.

In the spirit of Big Pink, the Basement Tapes and the first McCartney album, it was decided to record the album in two days at Darren’s house, with a bunch of battered microphones, a fresh pot of tea, and some fruit cake. The resulting recordings feature seven band originals (four written by Darren and two by David Tattersall) alongside covers of songs by Townes Van Zandt and The Mountain Goats and smattering of traditional tunes.In fact the original idea was even to avoid the notion of doing records. However when Dave Tattersall (The Wave Pictures) joined in 2007 with a whole repertoire of blues and country songs, as well as his own fantastic ballads, it became obvious that they had something worth preserving.

Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee let you peer though the cracks of their kitchen, and hit nearly all the right notes in the process. Let them give you a warm handshake.

Buy Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee on CD

Or buy the download from Bandcamp for £5

Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern

Posted on 1st January 20075th February 2016 by darren

Originally released 2007 on Track and Field.
Darren Hayman presents his second solo album and a new backing band. ‘Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern’ was recorded between Summer and Winter 2006 and features his touring band from that period; Amos Memon (Fanfarlo, Tompaulin) on drums, Dave Watkins on banjo and Simon Trought (Tompaulin) on bass, percussion, mandolin, backing vocals and acting as recording engineer.
The record also features a whole host of special guests including Dave Sheppard (Ellis Island Sound), Galia Durant (Psapp), John Howard (reclusive 70’s songwriting genius), Wesley Gonzalez (Lets Wrestle), David Tattersall (The Wave Pictures), Mark Brend (Farina) Terry Edwards (Scapegoats, Tindersticks, Higsons), Pete Astor (Loft, Weather Prophets).
The idea for this album was to make some lively rock and roll. All of Darren’s recent releases have been intensive, home-recorded affairs; for this record, Darren decided to go to a recording studio and piece together an album quickly with little preparation. Some of the songs (Let’s Go Stealing, The Wrong Thing) were improvised quickly by Darren, with Amos playing along on drums and the rest of the song being written afterwards. On Apologise and Pupil Most Likely, Darren assembled a group of musicians who had not previously met or heard the songs and recorded them in 8 short hours.

None of this is to suggest that this album is slapdash. The lyrics as usual are precise, emotive, direct, heartbreaking and amusing all at the same time. The theme of suburban ennui and aspiration from his last two albums continue this time with a particular focus on schools and education inspired by Darren’s recent short career as an Art Teacher. Other songs focus on the perils of cheap engagement rings, the need for clearer language in love letters, and the Higgins versus Reardon snooker final of 1982. Also recorded during these sessions was the single, Bad Policewoman.

Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern – Related Singles

Bad Policewoman

Bad Policewoman/Your Heart 7″ Vinyl

Recorded during sessions for the album Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern. The two songs on this 7-inch do not appear on the album. The b-side features Terry Edwards on saxophone. Limited to 500 numbered copies.

Hefnet