Darren Hayman is reissuing ‘The Violence’, the sprawling double album he regards as the most ambitious work of his 30-year career. Originally released through Fortuna POP! in 2012 and recorded with his 16-piece ensemble The Long Parliament, it returns with previously unreleased songs and demos folded into the running order.
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know, if she floats or drowns” wrote Darren Hayman on Hefner’s ‘The Sad Witch’, a decade later he’s returning to the subject for The Violence, a concept album based around seventeenth century Essex witch trials and the English Civil war.
As concepts go it’s not as odd a choice as you might think. Leaving aside allegorical links to the present day, intended or otherwise…
Tag Archive: Darren Hayman
“Somebody just died / Nobody you’d know,” Darren Hayman intones in the opening line of his latest album, Amazing Things. Not being formally acquainted with Hayman’s deceased friend, for whom these songs have been written and were inspired by, does not compromise one’s experience with this heartfelt album. Grief is felt differently by everyone, but there’s a universal language of loss understood by anyone who’s experienced such pain, whether they can translate those emotions into words or not. Little things like keeping someone’s phone number in your list of contacts even though you can no longer traditionally reach them, drinking stronger beers to soften sadness, or remembering promises you made and the reality of upholding that responsibility…
