Hayden

Toronto's Hayden Desser devoted most of twenty years to shaping singularly moving songs that blended rock and folk elements with intimate reflections, delivered through vocals that evoked both Neil Young's soaring falsetto and Leonard Cohen's unsteady, gravelly depths. The musician, widely praised by critics, surfaced in the opening years of the 1990s equipped solely with a four-track recorder modeled after those favored by Sebadoh and Pavement. Pairing his uncommonly deep register with a heavily detuned guitar, Hayden issued the self-released cassette In September in 1994; much of its content later formed the core of his debut official album, Everything I Long For. Issued in 1995 on his own Hardwood Records imprint, that first full-length disc juxtaposed tender and unsettling moments, offering glimpses of ordinary existence alongside darker narratives that preserved a distinctly intimate perspective. Several fortunate opportunities, among them a U.S. tour alongside Guided by Voices and occasional MTV exposure, elevated his profile and prompted sufficient demand for Outpost Recordings, a Geffen subsidiary, to re-release the album.

In the ensuing years Hayden maintained a steady output, delivering numerous independent singles and EPs that quickly became scarce collector pieces. During 1996 he put out the four-track Mild and Hazy 7" on Hardwood Recordings, which contained a forceful rendition of the Pixies' "Gouge Away," together with the scarce split 7" Lunar Landing Confirmed that also featured fellow Canadians Poledo. Two members of Poledo, Mitch Roth and Kid Lunch (also known as Joshua Malinsky), later became regular participants in Hayden's live and studio ensembles. At the same time he contributed the atmospheric yet energetic title song to the soundtrack of Steve Buscemi's 1996 film Trees Lounge.

Hayden opened 1997 by releasing another 7", Carry on Mentality, via the Canadian label Landspeed Records. That year likewise brought his initial EP, Moving Careful, issued jointly by Sonic Unyon Records and Hardwood Records. Serving as a natural extension of the debut album, the eight-track, predominantly acoustic set upheld his practice of locating poignant resonance and emotional weight within everyday occurrences such as a haircut or a shared cigarette. As the year drew to a close, he began work on a second album that would mark both a modest change in approach and the onset of several setbacks.

The Closer I Get appeared on Outpost in 1998 and marked Hayden's first release aimed at international audiences as well as his initial venture entirely under a major label. The album represented a subtle departure from earlier work by incorporating a full band on most songs and favoring a more rock-driven sound over the folk leanings of prior releases. Its lead single, the drum-machine-driven "The Hazards of Sitting Beneath Palm Trees," received moderate airplay, while tours with Juliana Hatfield and the Tragically Hip introduced him to broader crowds; nevertheless, despite mounting critical praise and devotion from an intensely loyal following, widespread commercial breakthrough remained out of reach. Within the following year Outpost folded and Hayden found himself released from the Geffen roster.

For several subsequent years he withdrew from public view and seldom appeared beyond his home city. The lack of fresh recordings proved discouraging, yet an expanding online following sustained optimism and awaited any new material. Early indications emerged in 2001, and by mid-year it was confirmed that Hayden had begun recording in his home studio. One hundred handcrafted copies of Skyscraper National Park, his third album, became available late that summer; the immediate interest led to a further limited pressing of 1,500 copies that supported a brief Canadian tour that autumn. Although he had been absent for some time, the concerts sold out and were warmly received, with both editions of the album quickly exhausted. Buoyed by such encouragement, Hayden agreed to issue the eleven-track set more widely through the now Universal-affiliated Hardwood Records in October 2001. The album returned to the restrained character of his earliest recordings while introducing a lighter, more buoyant spirit and greater emphasis on the higher vocal register he had previously minimized.

In 2002 Hayden moved to Badman and issued the live double-disc set Live from Convocation Hall, documenting a sold-out Toronto engagement that drew from his three prior albums plus a reading of Neil Young's "Tell Me Why." His following studio effort, 2004's Elk-Lake Serenade, came to be regarded as his strongest collection to that point, whereas 2008's In Field & Town found him revisiting acoustic textures. Breaking from precedent, he returned promptly to the studio and completed The Place Where We Lived for a May 2009 release. In 2013 he delivered Us Alone, a spare and introspective set of original songs. Much of 2014 was occupied with touring and recording his eighth album, Hey Love. Crafted almost entirely within his Toronto home studio, the record maintained the confessional, somber mood of its predecessor and appeared in early 2015 on Arts & Crafts.