“It is about destiny and the journey to self-acceptance. And, like anything I create, it is about my own personal experience over the past few years.”
We hate to say it (no we don’t), but we’ve been digging Aubrey Haddard for years. Here’s what Nina Corcoran wrote about the singer, a Hudson Valley native doing her thing around Boston via Berklee at the time, in 2018:
The real joy in Haddard’s music is her voice, that ability to belt not just a string of words at high volume, but singing with tangible energy, a slice of joy that slides right out of her ribcage in one piece. Honing it has been a gradual process. Like any singer, Haddard has her fair share of musical idols and the obsessions that follow suit trying to become them—the sheer power of Susan Tedeschi, the gentle cadence of Bonnie Raitt, the wild madman style of Jeff Buckley—by transcribing their vocal parts. Perhaps the most essential work done to her voice is the act of listening to it.
And here’s the word on the latest from Haddard, who is now in NY, straight from her team:
New York City-based indie-pop singer-songwriter, Aubrey Haddard releases her effervescent second single, “Green As Ever” today, along with its accompanying summery music video. Haddard’s second full-length album, Awake And Talking, will be out August 19, 2022 and is available for pre-order now, via Beverly Martel Records.
The project’s first single, “Just A Wall,” which premiered with The Line of Best Fit, saw Haddard examine her own reflection and begin to find self-acceptance. The Line of Best Fit wrote that it’s “sublime, emotive and anthemic,” and that “Aubrey Haddard channels Orpheus.”
Similar to “Just A Wall,” “Green As Ever,” sees Haddard continue to draw on themes of mythology within her lyricism. Haddard’s airy vocals float over a synthy beat, “According to mythology we play a role / Don’t tell me when the summer ends / I’ll be gone.”
After reading Michael Pollan’s book The Botany Of Desire and learning about human relationships from the perspective of plant care, Haddard found herself crafting what “Green As Ever,” would later become.
Haddard explains, “In the summer of 2020 I traded my shared, Brooklyn two-bed for a mattress on the floor of my childhood home in the Hudson Valley where much of the record was written. Matt Peiffer (Awake And Talking mix engineer) had lent me his copy of The Botany of Desire, in which Michael Pollan discusses the reflection of human desires in the way that we interact with plants. We’ve learned how to manipulate them in every way so they become only the best, only exactly what we want.”
“According to mythology we play a role,” Haddard adds. “And when that role comes knocking on my door, don’t expect me to answer. Maybe I am destined for something, but maybe I’d rather just run from it. Maybe I could manipulate my life in every way so that it is exactly what I want it to be, or maybe I’ll just throw up my hands.”
More details below:
Haddard teamed up with Josh Rob Thomas again to direct the track’s summery, dance-filled music video. Wrapped in nostalgia, “The video was shot on the street I grew up on,” says Haddard. “It was a leap of faith, with choreography being the focal point. The song is really an ode to summer and I wanted to reflect that in a juvenile way.”
The video sees Haddard among lush trees and tall grass, running down her empty, rural street from her childhood, as the sky transitions from day to night. There’s a boundless, carefree energy that Haddard emits in the video that captures the essence of the song’s message. As she runs, she rids herself of any attachment–blooming both fiercely and independently–on her own terms.
“Green As Ever” is just the second taste of the second nine-track LP out this summer coming from Aubrey Haddard. Awake And Talking, puts Haddard’s self-examination on full display as she navigates the nuances of love and her relationship to art, and wrestles with existential questions through various lenses. While producing the album, some of the great songwriters of the late 90’s and early aughts–everyone from Stereolab and Oasis, to Björk and the Cocteau Twins–were in Haddard’s heavy rotation as their conceptual songwriting and harmonic approaches provided plenty of inspiration. With writing partner and multi-instrumentalist Charley Ruddell and drummer Josh Strmic, the trio came together in places of comfort like their weekly rehearsal space, Haddard’s childhood home upstate, and their home studio to create this collection of songs throughout the year before tracking them over the course a week in the summer of 2021. Now with a more mature, renewed perspective, Haddard’s intimate yet audacious sound is both self-assured and delicately fearless.
“Awake And Talking is about seeking a sense of purpose,” Haddard says. “It challenges perception – how many ways can you look at the world before you find your place in it? It is about destiny and the journey to self-acceptance. And, like anything I create, it is about my own personal experience over the past few years. This record makes me feel powerful and confident in the face of uncertainty and it brings me a lot of joy to know that it could offer a sliver of that to anyone listening.”
aubreyhaddard.com
Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.