We recently reviewed Hayley Sales second album ‘When the Bird Became a Book’ and scored it a perfect five, I highly recommend you read that review before this to get some background on Hayley. Today we have a review of her debut album ‘Sunseed’. A good album in it’s own right but after listening to ‘When the Bird Became a Book’ I can truly hear how Hayley has progressed as singer songwriter.
The album consists of fourteen tracks. Some tracks are a little weak but most are great. My favourite track of the whole album is What you Want. It’s catchy, has a laid back summer feel and is meaningful. I also enjoyed, Jailcell Mind, Traffic, Keep Driving, Wished you Were Here, Farmers, Too Much (is probably my second favourite track), All Roads Lead to Jamaica and Dragon Eyes.
The songs I really didn’t enjoy were Braille as the style was tedious and every time it played through my iPod I skipped it. I also found Bubble in Disguise repetitive but I could appreciate what the song was trying to say, which I also found to be the case for the track Paint by Numbers. Hayley is very talented when it comes to writing songs, she gets whats she's trying to say across perfectly to the listener and this is a skill she has only improved upon.
Instrumentally I enjoy the tracks which have a sunny laid back folky vibe, with light guitar and brushed drums playing, this compliments Hayley’s voice the best and I feel Hayley is most comfortable and natural throughout these. Hayley has a light but powerful voice, she is an exceptionally good singer with a great deal of clarity. All of this comes together to create some very memorable catchy music.
Elements of reggae is sprinkled all over this album too. Hayley mixes everything up excellently well with dippings of hip-hop, blues, country & rock, running through the album.
Even after listening to ‘When the Bird Became a Book’, Sunseed stands up to be an exceptionally good debut album! I’d recommend picking up both for yourself and enjoy listening to them in the car or camper this summer.
Suneed is avalible in either physical form or you can download it from iTunes.
