Hayes Peebles appears to be the next great singer-songwriter out of New York City in the mold of a young Tom Verlaine/Cat Stevens without the potential for a conversion to Islam and a sudden distaste for digital home recording, Holocaust-denial, and definitely not the NY-flannel-sweater/scarfs that aids him in keeping out the coldness of non-Clear-Channel funded heating bills that are necessary to fill in the void left by corporate warmth.
A wiser man
Told me a story
About when he was my age
With power and grace
Oh, He laid to waste
The man I was becoming
Now I’m just a clean white pageSo I am lookin around
Trying to find the one I used to be
Hes at the bottom of your sandy ocean floor
Looks like im, looks like im, looks like im
Going For A SwimHis words were sharp
And Cold as steel
Hes sentences were razors
Scraping up and down my face
When I walked away
I had been erased
He said: “tell me a sad story”
“Do you think you’ve got a place?”So im looking around trying to find the one that I used to be
Hes in your redwoods climbing high above the rocks
Looks like ill, looks like ill, looks like ill…. See You At The Top
And I know hes out there… somewhere
Sleeping in your veins
Looks like ive, Looks like ive, Looks like ive fallen into place
While Hayes started writing apartment-ade, soft alt-folk demos in December of 2005: playing shows for a Hurricane Katrina, Post- 9th-Ward benefit that no doubt aided my friends along the Gulf Coast, he manages sincerity, honesty, concrete-jungle grass-roots feedback, and a cleanliness in 8th-grade-room-studio soundscape that would make Conor Oberst faint at the notion of his immaturity at 14 playing to the hyper-Ritalined, midwest-indie drumming of Commander Venus’s percussion, Matt Bowen, instead of by himself. While I stumbled upon researching the lineup in Mexico City for Conors new side-project (Conor Oberst And The Mystic Mountain Band) I expected an egotistical Steve.. Miller/Malkmus 60’s alt-psychedelic-folk band frontman (X) Featuring the rest-of-the-talented-band-members-whose-real-names-are-not-to-be-announced on Leno type syntax: I truly found a gem of a solo artist. Hayes even looks pretty sweet too and not in the quizzical Hot-Topic “Let’s Fuck America” with eye-liner and pink wristbands sort of way. Here are his influencesNick Drake, Bright Eyes, Elliott Smith, Modest Mouse, Damien Rice, The Honorary Title, Jeff Buckley, Ben Kweller, Devendra Banhart, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles, Jesse Harris, George Harrison, Jens Lekman, M. Ward, Songs: Ohia, Will Oldham, Cat Stevens, Jose Gonzalez, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel and so many others….
“My first legitimate show was at the Rockwood Music Hall, June of 2006. I played about 5 guitar originals and covers of Thelonious Monk, Ben Kweller and The Honorary Title on piano. The crowd was essentially just family and friends.
To Be Continued….
“Gone Grey” (Live At Luna Lounge, For Gothamists Movable Hype 11.0)
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