Hayman’s new attentive and unhurried album, ‘The Ship’s Piano’, can only be described as being like a reassuring embrace from an old friend. Almost by stealth, the calming, yet touching, delectable numbers progressively build into moving tributes to romance.
Quintessentially English, the poetic, insightful and veracious language on show, flows effortlessly over dampened, but effective, sparsely laid down backing tracks. A direct result of Hayman’s injuries – sustained from a viscous mugging and assault in 2009 – his hearing problems make certain frequencies and loud sounds punishing to the ear. This 11-track LP is a direct result of his long recuperation, and adoption of a softer, more yielding sound. Of course the former Hefner front man, solo artist, and leader of The Secondary Modern, Hayman has been used to adjusting and fine-tuning.
Muse, or, centerpiece to this latest venture is the atavistic, one-time ship’s, 1933 fold away piano of the title: a handed-down instrument of antiquity, touched and practiced on by a purview succession of characters; as played out on the affectionate title ode. It’s deft tones, cadence, and rich textures can be heard on all the perfectly pitched compositions and perspicacious reflected renderings. Though numerous, highlights include the foot-shuffling romantic joy of ‘I Taught You How To Dance’ – an endearing melodious waltz, filled with tender nuanced descriptions like, “We were simply grooving/the hipsters started laughing/the way that we were moving/a little out of time” – the, surprisingly, Eno-esque ‘Cuckoo’, and soothing Sparklehorse atmospheric love paean, ‘It’s Easy To Hang With You’.
Hayman has, beyond doubt, composed a down-played, pronounced and hushed minor opus. One of the year’s slow-burners.
Due: Out Now
[Rating:4]
