Artist Feature – Haych
The sparrow flies south for the winter. Read all about how Haych came to be and where this sparrow is headed, this feature was written after an interview with Haych at the end of December 2023.
#Slackerfolk #HaylieCore
Listen to Haych:
19-year-old trans artist Haych (commonly known as Hayley) has been pushing the boundaries of genre with a strong catalogue of projects exploring the cloud rap sound by bending it to her malleable artistry drawing upon influences from multiple genres.
Inspired by the unsung artists leading the SoundCloud revolution in the early 2010s you can find the influence of Yung Lean Black Kray and Bladee, however rap was not always the path Hayley wanted to go down.
Her musical journey began as a child listening to a lot of rock bands: The Beatles, Biffy Clyro and Placebo to name a few who all inspired her to be a part of her own band, starting a band at 14 isn’t easy when you’re living in the north disconnected from people with similar interests so the band never came to fruition, and it was around this time she began listening to electronic dance music and dubstep.
“That’s what my first songs were under the Haych name, really shit EDM songs that were just made with loops on garage band I was around 13 or 14 when these were coming out”
Since then, Haych never stopped creating music, she’s always been working on something which has seen her sound evolve over the past 5 years having no professional background in music production or the funds to pay for professional production Hayley has learnt how to make her songs through a process of trial and error she said her sound just evolved based on whatever she was listening to.
“In 2018 and 2019 I listened to a lot of Lil Peep, Joji and that sort of sad stuff. I released an album called surgeon which is really inspired those artists but also draws a lot from rock elements, it has a blend of hip hop elements with structure and lyrics from rock.”
After this project she explored more into the hip-hop sector while still drawing elements from rock refining her unique sound even now working on adding glitchcore inspired elements after hanging around with upcoming Nottingham artist Viizzi; The main element that has remained throughout this evolution has been the use of samples no matter what Hayley is making.
“I’m just really passionate about music I just love putting whatever I listen to and what I’m inspired by in the music I make, if there’s a band, I’m into I’ll sample them and make a song using their stuff to show my appreciation for the art.”
Haych + Teenlove (Source: unknown)
One prominent theme that sticks out in her music is the discussion of her personal identity, the trans community is currently at the centre of an ongoing political debate and Hayley is not shy at all in defining herself proudly referring to herself as a “trans bitch” in many of her songs taking back power over anyone dismissive of her true identity, this is what she had to say when I asked her about identity in her music.
“I don’t really know I just like putting it in my music, I like the idea of being that person that maybe someone could find comfort in when they’re going through similar problems.”
She spoke about an album she’s been working on the past year (2023) which she hopes to release in 2024 that is all about being trans extending directly from personal experiences, she wants it to be an album for people to find solace in, she wants to be the person for others that she didn’t necessarily have for herself growing up.
Haych releases music under different aliases with stronger thematic concepts for different projects, for example ‘the sparrow flies south for the winter’ is an alias she took from a children’s book series she grew up reading, Skullduggery pleasant and has released 2 albums under that name where she explores a more lo-fi ambient style that she wouldn’t even know how to describe.
“There are so many different influences on it I don’t even know what genre it is… just melancholic vibes”
This concept is extended with her alter ego’s ‘Jaynark’ and ‘May bell air’ using them to explore various concepts, Jaynark being a masculine person with a super harsh and industrial sound compared to May bell air being a more feminine person with ethereal and cloudy production.
“The Jaynark personality especially was a way for me to talk about things I would never do but would as a character like bashing someone’s skull with a baseball bat, I’d never do that, but Jaynark might…””
Hayley started a degree in electronic music production last year to improve the scope and scale of her music, at only 19 years old she has already grown a diverse catalogue of music exploring a wide range of different genres, her main goal for the new year is to start doing live shows with her frequent collaborators who are already established, her new project coming next year tackling themes of personal identity is one we eagerly await, this independent northwest artist has laid out a road which we can’t wait to see her ride along.
This post was created by Diamon Parmar
@lucidvijay