Gemma Hayes

Irish singer/songwriter Gemma Hayes secured her initial contract with the French electro label Source Records through sheer determination and notable ability after spending nearly five years playing and working across Dublin's leading music spots. Although her early EPs remained relatively minimal and rooted in folk traditions, the imprint's electronic heritage soon shaped later work that incorporated chilled synth textures and dense, My Bloody Valentine-inspired shoegaze layers alongside the quiet introspection associated with Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Such stylistic breadth placed Hayes alongside contemporaries Beth Orton and PJ Harvey, resulting in a 2002 Mercury Music Prize nomination.

Born into a musical household of eight children in the remote Tipperary village of Ballyporeen in southwestern Ireland, Gemma Hayes found both the confines of rural existence and the structure of boarding school prompting a teenage turn toward music and verse. After enrolling at university in Dublin she began playing guitar and composing songs, eventually leaving formal studies to focus on music while earning a living at a launderette and performing solo shows throughout the city each evening. Once she assembled a band to expand her arrangements, EMI's dance imprint Source Records offered a multi-album agreement in 2001 when she was 23.

That year also brought the first EP, 4.35 AM, followed in 2002 by Work to a Calm; both releases introduced her tentative entry into recorded music and generated sufficient interest to support a full-length debut. Rejecting the label's suggestion to collaborate with producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck), Hayes instead enlisted Mercury Rev's Dave Fridmann together with her then-boyfriend Dave Odlum (Kíla, the Frames). Fridmann's involvement helped realize the shoegaze and noise-rock elements only suggested on the EPs. The resulting album Night on my Side appeared in the U.K. and Ireland in May 2002, reaching number eight at home and entering the U.K. Top 100; a revised edition reached the United States the following April.

Night on my Side received strong critical notice yet finished just behind Ms. Dynamite's A Little Deeper for the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. Finding the project neither the commercial nor creative breakthrough she had envisioned, Hayes chose an extended break from the industry before mapping her subsequent steps. During this period she co-wrote the song "Hazy" with Adam Duritz for Counting Crows' 2003 live album New Amsterdam; Duritz later acknowledged her by name in the track "Washington Square" on the 2008 release Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings.

Hayes re-emerged in 2005, self-producing The Roads Don't Love You with assistance from Joey Waronker (Beck). Lead single "Undercover," co-written with Jellyfish's Roger Manning, Jr., reached number 38 on the Irish Singles Chart and number 60 in the U.K., while noted influence Lisa Germano contributed guest violin. The album adopted a more approachable stance than its predecessor, peaking at number 13 on the Irish Album Chart, yet Source Records still terminated the contract the next year.

In late 2006 Hayes confirmed plans for a third album with Dave Odlum on her newly formed Gemma Hayes Music imprint. The Hollow of Morning required more than a year of work, a painstaking process that recalled guest producer Kevin Shields (of My Bloody Valentine); additional production came from Bell X1's Paul Noonan and singer/songwriter Joe Chester. The record entered the Irish Album Charts at number 12 upon its May 2008 release, with a worldwide edition issued shortly afterward by Nashville's ATC Records. An extended period of recording and refining her fourth album followed, during which Hayes performed live across Europe, issued the 2009 EP Oliver, and contributed four original songs to the soundtrack of the 2011 independent film Janie Jones. Let It Break appeared via self-release in Ireland in 2011, debuting at number 11, followed by the duet EP of Bob Dylan covers with Roddy Hart titled Dylan EP. An international edition of Let It Break arrived through Fullfill Records in 2012, the same year a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" featured in an episode of the U.S. series Pretty Little Liars. Recording of her fifth studio album began the following year, though she first issued the live collection Night & Day in 2014, captured at 2012 concerts in Dublin and London. Bones + Longing reached Irish stores later in 2014, with broader distribution arriving in early 2015.