Long before there was a trilogy of albums on the history of Essex, the 2012 instrumental record inspired by Lidos, an EP of tunes inspired by diesel commuter trains, or Chants for Socialists, Darren Hayman used to specialise in songs…
One of, if not the, most beautiful folk projects of last year was volume one of Darren Hayman’s Thankful Villages – a journey around the UK’s 54 villages where all of their First World War soldiers returned from battle alive.…
Christmas In Hayworth was something of a souvenir Darren Hayman brought back from spending Christmas 2010 in the Yorkshire village of Hayworth – with four of the six tracks written and recorded there and others added later. Hayman’s Christmas EP…
The fields around where Ralegh Long lives are known locally as ‘Webster’s Gold’ after the man who made his fortune growing wheat for biscuits which were shipped to soldiers fighting in the Crimea. It is in these fields where Ralegh…
How fitting to get acquainted with Darren Hayman’s new multimedia documentary project and album ‘Thankful Villages Volume 1’ on a day set aside in the USA as a memorial to soldiers.The project’s central theme of a musical, visual and narrative…
If you’re ever waiting for Darren Hayman’s next project, you at least know you won’t have to wait long. Having released both Chants For Socialists and Florence last year, the tireless songwriter has a new record out next week about…
Darren Hayman decamped to (you guessed it) Florence to record this charming collection which, surprisingly for such a prolific writer, is his first strictly solo album, finding him home alone in his hosts’ Firenze flat. Opener ‘Nuns Run The Apothecary’…
Look At What You Can’t Have Now from Darren Hayman on Vimeo. Apparently, after Darren Hayman recruited Standard Fare’s Emma Kupa for his new song ‘Look At What You Can’t Have Now’, they decided that the record should sound like…
Whilst writing The Violence, last year’s dazzling musical chronicle of the Essex witch-hunts, Darren Hayman researched and adapted a repertoire of folk songs from the civil war period. On Bugbears he has kitted them out and sent them to march,…
Jeffrey Lewis and Darren Hayman have contributed tracks to a charity album to raise money for Rape Crisis. Regal vs Steamboat, a 31-track double album, was released this week on Audio Antihero Records, with money raised going to Rape Crisis England…