I should point out right away that I went to high school with Hayden, but back then his name was Paul and if I recall correctly he was really into The Smiths.
Anyways, I'm going to put whatever personal feelings I have about Paul aside, (trust me, they ain't much, I didn't really know him that well), and try to be as objective as I can about this record.
The record starts out well enough if not a little predictably. If you've never heard Hayden before his music is fairly typical lo-fi folky stuff. It reminds me a little of Iron & Wine. The songs get a little eclectic at various points and in my mind this is a good thing. The instrumentation on songs like Stride and Waiting For a Chance To See Her is great. On songs like these he's broken away to some extent from what I would expect from lo-fi folk by mixing in some electronic elements, (some well placed and well mixed beebing on Stride for example).
Where this album really falls down is the lyrics and to some extent the singing. The only subject that Hayden seems to know how to sing about is himself and it gets very tiresome really fast. Most of the lyrics sound like bad high school poetry (I hate to admit it but I just couldn't make it through Better Off Inside what with the promise of Instrumental With Mellontron next in line). In fact the lyrics are so bad it's a little shocking that the same person wrote the music which for the most part is pretty damn good, (if not a little repetitive). The singing is also a little weak. It's not that Hayden has a bad voice it's just that he doesn't use it in a very interesting fashion. The moany, droney, sadcore singing gets a little boring after a while.
Musically I really like this record. By far the best song is Waiting For A Chance To See Her. As an instrumental it allows Hayden's talent to shine through and not be deflected by his weak lyrics and mediocre singing. Bullet meanders on way too long and anything that was effective about this song is totally lost. Memphis and Better Off Inside are total throw aways. You Are All I Have is Hayden at his moaniest best. It's a nice simple song and I love the sound of something he's playing on it, either an ukulele or a banjo.
This was Hayden's second album and I think it's usually considered a little worse than his first, but I think that's a mistake. This one seemed more varied musically than his first record and he sounds more competent as a musician on it.
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