GEMMA HAYES – Blind Faith (Gemma Hayes Music)

Blind FaithIrish singer-songwriter Gemma Hayes’ (first album in ten years!) Blind Faith bends melodic gravity.

Yet paradoxically, it lands with a cover-art cloud of parachuted comfort amid the honest Earth dust after a tough-grooved descent oscillating between lovely sonic textures (with some cello!), folk song purity, and nightshade Atropa belladonna-rooted lyricism.

The first song, ‘Eye For An Eye,’ explores the lifeline journey of a relationship that “is out for blood” yet “your hand still in mine”, with “arms open wide”, but ultimately, “now the world is gone.” This is humanity’s song that wages an emotional battle on a memory’s psychological chessboard, all framed by a harmonium, Wurlitzer, and a slight touch of synth keyboards.

The next two songs brew an eerie broth. ‘Central Hotel’ features strummed acoustic guitar, Gemma’s processed vocals, and a whirlwind of sound, floating on that (before-mentioned) bent melodic gravity. The more direct ‘Another Love’ (with Paul Noonan of BellX1 fame!) percolates with piano, a great chorus, and the lyrical abstraction hinting at (even more) lost psychological love, with the words, “You are only a reminder/of another”, which conjures the ghost of Emily Dickinson’ gossamer-laced poetry.

In contrast, ‘Hardwired’ is a hard-strummed electric guitar romp, with “barbaric yawp” of a vocal – to name-check Walt Whitman, another great American poet.

Then the irresistible melodies return. But it’s not easy as ‘Feed The Flames’ continues to wage a cross-wired emotional battle on a memory’s psychological chessboard.  Gemma sings, “I want to tell you, I want to tell you/But I just can’t say it”. And, in brutal honesty, she confesses, “When we feed the flames all I feel is free”. This is intense stuff. Sometimes, art needs a confessional cloister to reveal its true stained glass melodic colours. Thankfully, ‘High And Low’ stitches a quiet quilt, although the lyrics quaff more bourbon fire of lost love, with the words, “How can I go home/When you’re not waiting for me”. As is often said, still waters run deep, and sometimes, as my friend, Kilda Defnut, says, “There’s always a Minotaur in any vacation labyrinth”. The quick-paced ‘Break Didn’t Heal Right’ momentarily escapes from a “world on fire” into a childhood memory when “I got close to something beautiful/An ocean in my heart”. Then the song erupts into even more frantic strummed electric guitar and an intense vocal that demands, “Kiss me right now”, which punctuates the album’s gist. And, to appropriately quote the poet Emily Dickinson once again: “Time is a Test of Trouble—But not a Remedy–. Yet, also in keeping with all that melodic gravity, the tune manages a redemptive parachuted melody. Nice.

And ‘Can’t Kill A Hunger’ is a wonderful acoustic interlude (with Ann Scott on shared vocals) that haunts the infectiously psychological chorus that asks, “Oh how will we know if Heaven is better than the devil we know”. Nice, once again.

But finally, Arachne spins her perfect web, once again. The brilliant ‘Return Of The Daughters’ is an oblique, menacing, chiming, and complex tapestry that spins the weird spindle and tolls a dense bell with the words, “Baby don’t you know/We’re all carrying a dead thing/ Rejoice. Rejoice”. Brilliantly, the pronoun shapeshifts from “We’re” to “You’re” to “I”; but amid the odd celebration, the ever-bending melodic gravity, and the lyrical diaphanous profundity, this is magically spun golden fleece darkened wisdom (with a few more “yawps”!) that courses a dexterous shuttled halo and weaves a Stygian finale, where the prodigal daughters return “Up on the hill” and “down on the beaches”, only to avoid being “Tempted by the river” and then dissolve into a Blind Faith of music that continues to haunt that emotional battle on memory’s psychological chessboard, yet, still, somehow, manages to entwine a flawless tapestry of a pretty great songs.

Bill Golembeski

Artist’s website: http://gemmahayes.com/

‘Another Love’ – official video:

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