Haley Heynderickx

Haley Heynderickx, an indie folk singer and songwriter, incorporates elements from her devout Filipino-American background, alongside 1960s and 1970s folk traditions, jazz broadcasts, and the unique acoustic guitar approaches of Leo Kottke and John Fahey. These elements converge in her songs, blending skillful fingerstyle playing with words that occasionally touch on humor yet primarily delve into personal reflection and universal experiences. She issued her debut full-length I Need to Start a Garden in 2018. Nature motifs, both concrete and symbolic, persisted on her follow-up Seed of a Seed, a more uneasy collection that appeared in 2024.

Born in Stockton, California, and raised in Forest Grove, Oregon, the Portland-based artist self-released the EP Fish Eyes in 2016. Regional critics responded with enthusiasm, prompting Mama Bird Recording Co. to issue her first studio album I Need to Start a Garden in March 2018. That year she toured with the Low Anthem and Ani DiFranco, performed an NPR Tiny Desk concert, and headlined dates across North America and Europe. Zak Kimball produced the set, which Heynderickx co-produced, featuring Lily Breshears on electric bass and piano, Tim Sweeney on upright and electric bass, Phillip Rogers on drums and percussion, and Denzel Mendoza on trombone.

Although she maintained a steady performance schedule in subsequent years aside from the early COVID-19 period, six years passed before her second studio album materialized. Working again with Mendoza alongside drummer Daniel Rossi and upright and electric bassist Matthew Holmes, she enlisted producer Andrew Stonestreet, known for work with Greylag and Joseph. Electric guitarist William Seiji Marsh and cellist Caleigh Drane later joined to augment melodic lines. Exploring connections among nature, technology, consumerism, and alienation, Seed of a Seed reached listeners via Mama Bird in late 2024.