Darren Hayman - Florence

Das Jahr der doppelten Plattenveröffentlichungen (III)

277 Tage lagen zwischen der Veröffentlichung von "Chants For Socialists" und "Florence". Nachdem Darren Hayman für Soloalbum Nummer Elf ein Konzept und zahlreiche Studiogäste hatte, entstand Soloalbum Nummer Dreizehn vollkommen allein im Urlaub zwischen dem letzten Weihnachtsfest und Neujahr in Florenz im Appartment von Elizabeth Morris (Allo Darlin') und Ola Innset (Making Marks). Das melancholische und spärlich instrumentierte (gesang, Gitarre, Ukulele, Electronica) "Florence" bietet 10 Songs in 35 Minuten und ist digital oder als LP erhältlich.

Wer gut aufgepasst hat, dem ist aufgefallen, dass die Zählung von Haymans Platten von elf direkt auf dreizehn sprang. Album Nummer Zwölf trägt den Titel "Folk Lullabies For Children And The Childless" und versammelt 14 internationale Kinderlieder, die nur digital oder als Kassette ohne Label im Sommer schnell zwischendurch veröffentlicht wurden.

Der Metascore steht aktuell bei 74/100 Punkten:

As delicate as these songs are in terms of construction (simple guitar parts, barely-there percussion and Hayman’s vocals--it’s the first album he’s done as a truly solo artist) they really pack a punch. (musicOMH)

Florence is another excellent addition to Darren Hayman’s sterling oeuvre. (...)

For the most part Florence is fuelled by little more than Hayman’s voice, ukulele and ever-observant eye for detail as he passes a few days in The City of Lilies during “the nothing between Christmas and New Year”, as “From The Square To The Hill” has it.

A sprinkling of enchanting rinky-dink electronica on “Break Up With Him” and “Post Office Girl” - Darren’s answer to Bruce Springsteen’s maligned “Queen of the Supermarket”, perhaps? - harks back to his undervalued post-Hefner work with The French.

Lyrically he’s superb as ever, with an absolutely wonderful portrayal of encroaching middle-age served up with “When You're Lonely Don't Be” (“F*** getting old today, why don’t we just stay this age? A little ache, the right amount of grey...”) but grateful for the opportunity to simply “treasure the small things we know” (“On The Outside"). (The Line Of Best Fit)

Florence isn’t Hayman’s most ambitious or thrilling work ever, but it’s not supposed to be. A moment’s rest can work wonders on a tired soul. (Drowned In Sound)

First track Nuns Run The Apothecary turns a stream of mundane details into something inexplicably heartbreaking, with little but a softly strummed guitar as an accompaniment. This is Hayman’s gift – the ability to elevate the quotidian to heights that are almost sacred. This might also explain (if only in part) why religion has played such a distinct role in his lyrics.

And then there is Break Up With Him. Here the dirty minutiae of relationships takes the place of gentle religious overtones of the first track – it’s the old one-two sucker punch, the bait and switch, the sacred superseded by the seedy – but it’s worked for Hayman for twenty years and it still works now. Here the effect is heightened by a tinny drum machine and a slightly distorted electric guitar.

From The Square To The Hill is, to paraphrase EM Forster, Florence with no Baedeker, the narrator imploring his companion to ‘walk and then stop when we get bored.’ It’s like a Lonely Planet guide for the genuinely lonely, where all cities are the same, and the populations are all engaged in the same personal struggles.

Profanity often nestles up to profundity in the space of a single track, or even a couple of lines. When You’re Lonely Don’t Be – simultaneously resigned and optimistic – is typical Hayman in this respect, while On The Outside is just the singer with a fingerpicked acoustic guitar. It is deceptively simple, and contains the heart of the album’s feeling – ‘treasuring the small things we know’

Hayman is no virtuoso, musically speaking, and knows how to make his shortfalls into advantages. The arrangements on Florence are uncluttered compared with some of his recent work, showcasing the lyrics and the softer but no less idiosyncratic singing style he has adopted since the rawer, punkier Hefner days. In Didn’t I Say Don’t Fall In Love With Him restrained electric backing masks (or perhaps helps to create) melancholy. It builds slowly, the multi-tracked vocals of the refrain commenting on a failing relationship like the chorus in a Greek tragedy. Post Office Girl sees Hayman go all meta on our asses. You think it’s going to be one of those character songs that he does so well like The Librarian or She Can’t Sleep No More, but it does something altogether different and more personal, with the simplest and prettiest of backings, all programmed drums and twinkling keyboard.

Safe Fall, meanwhile, is more like one of those character songs, only with the narrator at a distance. It is the saddest and most muted moment on a sad and muted record, but is nevertheless not without optimism, and leads perfectly into final track The English Church: a gentle, wordless meditation, a sigh in the form of a song. It is a surprising way to end an album from a performer who puts so much emphasis on lyrics, but Hayman has made a career out of surprising his listeners, and Florence – cutting and pretty, grubby and sexy – is one of his best surprises yet.

(Folk Radio)