Staff Reviews

Gemma Hayes - Bones + Longing

Review by Matt Langham

There’s real thoughtfulness throughout; simple arrangements that nonetheless retain delicious details.»

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Gemma Hayes returns with her wondrous 5th studio album."Bones + Longing" is a thing of strange and wondrous beauty. It carves out its own spooky spaces, reach- ing from her heart to your ear in a miasma of ghostly guitars and floating voices, haunting melodies and cryptic lyrics, gilded by subtle, understated instrumental touches and sudden, startling sonic interventions. "I wanted to focus on the heart of the music and not strive for technical perfection," says Hayes. "There are songs that desperately want to be anthems but we've done a kind of anti-production. Drums are only used sparingly. There's a lot of first takes, flaws and imperfections. It's a more raw form and that's scary. But when I'm singing, I know what I'm feeling. I just wanted the vocal take where I really meant it."
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