Our first introduction to Brooklyn trio Haybaby came with the droll, slackrock of ‘Total Bore’. Like rainclouds moving in and out of sight, it ebbed and flowed with a virulent air. Follow-up single ‘Get Down’, the second from their forthcoming album ‘They Get There’, is an epistle on self-preservation.
In the three years since their last release, singer/guitarist Leslie Hong’s father was diagnosed with cancer which instigated a life-altering move from New York to Virginia to help see him through a long and ultimately fatal battle. Over slowly rolling drums and slumbering guitars, Hong delivers a tantalising, Palehound-esque vocal, whispering “I don’t need your help, I get down, I get down on myself, I don’t need, I don’t need your help.” It’s clear from the off that Hong stands on her own two feet, but the pain that lingers there, whether from her father’s disease or another source, soon surfaces as she impassionedly sings “I’ve been doing just fine on my own, I’ve got one, two, three reasons to feel rare.”
The slow simmer boils over into a blaze by the end as the guitars scrag and the drums fray. Haybaby may not need us but we certainly need them.
