Berlin-based queer ‘gentle folk’ artist Hayfitz releases his album, Everything Else, via SeaYou Records. It’s an intimate, haunting album, revealing the confusion, agony, and eventual reunion between two friends.
Hayfitz was questioning his sexuality and confronting the aftermath of his response to Sam Cope’s rejection and the collapse of their friendship. After a two-year period of silence followed by an eventual reconciliation, Hayfitz and Cope finally reunited in the fall of 2021 to produce a set of songs chronicling their story.
Hayfitz explains, “I knew that as soon as I admitted to Sam what it was all about, that it was no longer going to be just hypothetical. It was a very dark internal chapter for me. But it had to happen one way or another as far as me telling him. And it’s all embedded in the record.”
Encompassing 11 tracks, entry points on Everything Else include “Music Room,” with its soft, drifting melody topped by Hayfitz’s delicate, lustrous voice conveying poignant emotions dripping with aching vulnerability and exquisite tenderness.
A gentle, vibrant guitar provides the intro to “Curl,” which flows into a gossamer, translucent melody riding low-slung, tip-tapping percussion. The whispery warmth of the song ensues from Hayfitz’s satisfying vocals ranging from crystalline to slightly stronger timbres.
Drenched in frenetic searching coloration, “What’s Wrong” lays bare the anxiety of determining the emotions another person is feeling, emotions that are obstructing communication. Hayfitz’s strident sighing tones envelop the lyrics in a ghostly elegance that’s edged with unease.
A personal favorite because of its light, throbbing rhythm, “Delusional” pushes forth on gleaming layers of sound as Hayfitz’s voice takes on creamy, dreamy timbres, giving the lyrics charming allure.
The lovely “Mind Juggler” features a velvety, rippling cadence, at once mellow and trembling with a plush, gliding sensation. Layers of supple harmonic textures imbue the melody with silky, floating colors.
Constructed around savors of dream-pop and folk music, Hayfitz’s evocative, mellifluous voice makes Everything Else an opulent jewel.
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