Preaching From The Pews: Hayden Calnin

Absolutely dumbstruck and smitten by this ‘un. With a debut album planned for next year, there’s been a quiet hush of admiration for Australia’s Hayden Calnin with his music used to backdrop stateside shows such as Suits which in turn has led to critical exposure in some of the weightier newsstand publications of America.

Described as the Australian answer to Bon Iver (so no pressure there then) new EP ‘Oh, Hunter’ gathers together a formidable six track suite which ought to give hint as to the exquisite craft and spectrum range of this young musician. In short the finest thing we’ve heard of this ilk since frankly anything by the Low Anthem / Futur Primitif, opening cut ‘Comatose’ comes sparsely twinkled in the kind of hymnal presence that forms a fuzzy inner warmth upon the engaged would be listener, to the shuffle of a genteel trip hop pit a patter, the canter of sighing pastoral keys and ghostly gospel choral responses which not for the first time we’ve been drawn to compare with the Earlies albeit here charmed and chilled by the elegant detailing of Shady Bard.

Though amid all this what makes everything that little bit special are the emotional curvatures for Calnin guides you gently out of your comfort zone taking you on a ride both high and low to places of hymnal bliss to aching despair, freewheeling between the dark and the light and the bruised and the realised. Quite humbling if you ask me.