Description:
Skyscraper National Park is the welcome return of Hayden from self-imposed three-year exile of silence. His previous Outpost/Geffen albums, Everything I Long For and The Closer I Get earned him a "vital" tag from the tastemakers at Spin, and his contribution of the title track to Steve Buscemi's Trees Lounge cemented his cult following. Hayden has since evolved into a near-mythical legend, subject to Bigfoot-like sightings and rumors of activity. His fans refuse to accept his absence as a permanent situation, and optimistically speculate about new releases just around the corner. They are finally correct.
Hayden relies
Skyscraper National Park is the welcome return of Hayden from self-imposed three-year exile of silence. His previous Outpost/Geffen albums, Everything I Long For and The Closer I Get earned him a "vital" tag from the tastemakers at Spin, and his contribution of the title track to Steve Buscemi's Trees Lounge cemented his cult following. Hayden has since evolved into a near-mythical legend, subject to Bigfoot-like sightings and rumors of activity. His fans refuse to accept his absence as a permanent situation, and optimistically speculate about new releases just around the corner. They are finally correct.
Hayden relies on his instincts and does what feel s most natural; honesty is the guiding principle of his guileless, gimmick-free songwriting. Skyscraper National Park, which the Toronto Sun calls "his best work yet," is raw and bleak, yet warm and bright. From a high falsetto to a low growl, from a distant piano and thin guitar to lush strings and horns, Hayden traverses the span of wide-open spaces to solitary introspection. Heartbreak and comfort rub elbows in the light and in the shadows. Hayden's subtle touch and easy sense of humor dispel misconceptions that his is a troubled and moody soul.
Bedroom grunge folkie Paul Hayden Desser emerged in the '90s as the acoustic equivalent of an electrified punk-popper, strumming forcefully through bedsit tales of angst and ennui. His stark tunes caught the ear of Neil Young and set off a wild bidding war, though Hayden ended up signing to the fledgling Outpost label for one record. 2001's Skyscraper National Park is everything that Hayden's Outpost disaster, The Closer I Get, was not. While the major-label disc buried the gruff songwriter's melodies beneath big-budget dross, Skyscraper National Park puts Hayden back in his home studio, playing most of the instruments himself and reconnecting with what made him interesting in the first place. Songs like "Streetcar" return to the mope-pop of earlier albums, while the surprisingly funky "Tea Pad" mixes psychedelic fuzz with a shuffle beat. A welcome return. --Matt Galloway
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Manufacturer: Badman Records
Release date: 12 March 2002
EAN: 0709363698328 UPC: 709363698328
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