Side One / One Side (Spring 2006)

"The Haywards' Side One/One Side starts with the dryly ironic "A Lot of People Fall In Love In The Key of C," a snarky duet for singer-songwriter David Enright and

a piano played with a single finger that strongly recalls parts of the Magnetic Fields' similarly meta 69 Love Songs. After that quirky beginning, the album maintains

the stripped-down one-man-band feeling (the Haywards are largely a solo project by Enright, with occasional help from various friends) through a variety of styles and

moods. For example, "Drool Cup" is a blues for slide guitar, hushed vocals and a mutated tape-loop rhythm, while the similar "When You Wrung Yourself Out" adds bursts

of backwards guitar and what sounds like a toy piano. In between, the much poppier "I Meant Well" returns to the Magnetic Fields comparison, only this time recalling the

group's early Phil Spector meets the Young Marble Giants sound. A tinge of wistful melancholy hangs over the album, not least in Enright's often mournful vocal style;

this keeps "playful" from being exactly the right word to describe the loose, experimental vibe of the varied arrangements, but the ramshackle, homemade feel of Side One/One Side

lightens what might otherwise have been a considerably darker album." - ALL MUSIC GUIDE  Stewart Mason

"The front page of the band’s website features vocalist David Enright as an eagle carrying a nekked lady version of himself. No word on whether or not M. Night Shyamalan

aped the image for “Lady in the Water” or vice versa. You know those understated movies that are designed to make you uncomfortable in their “realness?” We’re thinking

“Me, You and Everyone We Know,” “The Squid and the Whale,” “Junebug,” etc. Well, The Haywards could have been “The Shins” to any of their “Garden States” - except

not nearly as gay or pretentious - had the planets been aligned properly at any time over the last decade. Vocalist David Enright conjures everyone from Pulp’s Jarvis

Cocker to George Harrison on this delectably sparse collection of post-Beatles art pop. - The Modern Fix

"The now Chicago-based David Enright seems unfairly dismissive of this abilities, putting down his guitar-playing and singing-even going so far as to express

his disdain for his constantly rotating group’s moniker. True, this album has a slightly demo-ish quality, with closely-recorded, simply strummed guitar and light percussion

often backing up Enright’s singing, Ray Davies/Geroge Harrison-like voice. But Enright is more than capable of writing a decent tune, and he sounds less withdrawn and

aloof than he did on 2004’s (Scene Missing), with brighter and more playful melodies that sometimes resemble kinks outtakes. Despite the apparent lack of

self-confidence, this LP is another engaging winner. – The BigTakeOver Magazine

"David Enright, GD Mills, Jason Clohecy, and Lisa Walker are the Haywards, creating very barren pop that brings to mind Spoon in some respects,

especially during “A Lot of People Fall in Love in the Key of C”, while “Fool Frame” has a lush yet folksy quality to it, a la an acoustic Pulp. Enright sounds

like the second coming of J.C. (Jarvis Cocker) during the lazy but pretty “Drool Cap” that works quite well. At other times, there’s a dreamy, heady vibe

oozing out of “Blindspot”, bringing to mind early Pink Floyd (R.I.P. Syd), circa “Fat Old Sun” or “Fearless”. From there, they move into a great pop

format with a gorgeous ditty entitled “I Meant Well” that sounds like Jesus and Mary Chain sans the wall of guitar. The album is extremely challenging at

times, with no true pop songs here, just a string of great tracks.  The lovely “When You Wrung Yourself Out” could be construed as the National performing

“A Day in the Life”. Enright also pokes fun at some of the recent doomsday scenarios on “Y2K5 Bug” that has a sweet, folk pop feeling to it as Walker

keeps the beat going along swimmingly. But he even manages to outdo himself with the dark and world weary “God Vs.”.  Walker gives a harmony vocal

during “Watch” that again shines despite the Velvet Underground feeling. This is an album that isn’t cookie-cutter but comes out

oh so sweet." - PopMatters

"The Haywards are Chicago group centered around singer David Enright and whoever he can cajole into playing with him in the studio at that particular time.

Enright and his revolving door line-up have been putting out their skewed indie-pop records for the past decade, without registering any major blips on the

musical radar. Thanks to lead singer David Enright's creative lyrics and oddball sense of melody, the singer-songwriter-esque material carries a lot more

emotional weight than its' meager fidelity would have you believe; sounding something like The Kinks' Ray Davies meeting the Tall Dwarfs for a pint at

the local bar with a four track recorder in hand. The Haywards' songs are sometimes bizarre ("Drool Cup"), sometimes fun ("I Meant Well"), often

introspective, and always full of intrigue. A pleasant surprise for those who think alternative rock's creative edge has become too smoothed out by

commercialism." - Losing Today

"Album Review: The Haywards - Side One / One Side (Ionik Recordings)
Current mood:  accomplished
Category: 4 out of 6 Music
Yeah, that's the album-cover right there! The Haywards return with a new release on Ionik Recordings. And once again it's great indie-pop

with nods to the 60's. Three words: Intelligent, pleasant and DIY." - Past and Present Reviews

"Astonishing melodic pop-rock with indie tendencies is the make-up of The Haywards. Frenetic hooks that are catchy and intriguing comprise the albums’
best parts. The overall sound is very stripped down but delivers the goods like a well-wrapped birthday present. The instrumentation at times is surprisingly
dense even though it sounds as intimate as a bedroom studio job. Good follow-up to their great “Scene Missing”. -  Smother Online Music Magazine

"Intelligent melodic indie pop. Passionate down to the bare bones but with a whisper in your ear of sweetness. 

Takes Scene Missing another step forward." --SMJ  - Sentimentalist Magazine

 

Scene Missing (October 2004)

Hybrid Magazine - Bullwinkle: Brilliantly sonic indie rock. Velvet underground influenced, but thoroughly modern, captivating and original.
Rocky: Nicely busy but uncomplicated smart music by the Church, brilliant lyrics by Kierkegaard. Boris: Rather British Invasion-esque,

 with interesting progressions and time changes thrown in. Natasha: I don't know how to describe it, but I think I like it.

"Scene Missing" is the new work of this cantautor, a disc made up of twelve cuts, after a total of four previous discs, and

a total unknown for the ample one I publish, even in its country. Its style is based on pop languid of dye lo-fi, since everything been has managed under its

point of view, counting on the support of the distribution of Ionik Record, but producing it he himself by its account. In the Enright disc it makes reference to a

thematic cradle in scenes of the day to day, where an acoustic guitar is let accompany by its whispering voice, in melódicas compositions, where also some electronic

devices are mixed, although in a secondary plane, since it is the acoustics the one that predominates. And in which fallig emphasizes subjects like "United wére",

where the structures take form to happen to the pop indie of surrounding sonoridades. Or "I didn't want to owe you", in which they emphasize those two elements bases,

the guitar and the voice, that undress to offer a delicate pop subject to us.

A pretty disc without any pretension, that it lets to us glimpse the personality of this man, his authenticity and way to make the things. As usually she happens most of times,

people with great talent hardly known by the great public, since she does not interest to occur to them to know too much, but so single to continue doing what they

really like and for which live, their music. - Popchild - (translation)

"Enlightening rock-n-roll for the attention-lacking generation is the stew that The Haywards stir.

If you’d look up DIY in the thesaurus you’d see one of the synonyms would be “Scene Missing”. What we have to figure out is what scene is missing from this album? All I can tell

is the mainstream scene, though this album is by far too dynamic to simply rubber stamp “indie”. - Smother.net

"A Charming CD this... It has that 60s pop sound all over it. It has quite a few things in common with The Beatles and what makes

The Haywards even more interesting in my book is that the production really sounds much like it would have if it was recorded in the 60s.

There’s no bullshit here. It’s like going back in time. For fans of beautiful and authentic acoustic rock." - Past & Present Reviews

"Enright rocks, but languidly -- in precisely the manner you'd expect from a man who has recorded four albums that were

completely ignored by the listening public. The recording itself is gorgeous -- if this is indeed DIY, the sheer sound of the acoustic

guitar throughout is shocking -- and the lyrics keep Enright talking, even if they don't do much else. Like all the best pop, it slowly,

carefully hooks you. Like all the best rock, you can listen to it as many times as you like and it'll stay strong. It's not David Enright's

identity that really matters, after all -- it's the beautiful life you'll imagine for him as you listen to his record.

Give Enright a chance and you'll imagine a doozy." - Splendid

"Now that I've allowed (Scene Missing) to soak in, I'm seeing many similarities here with Enright's previous work.  A lo-fi spirit pervades this album,

with low production values and many hometaper concepts.  The melodic aspect of the release is clearly its highlight; in these twelve songs,

there are more than enough hooks to go around - and they are often quite original and unconventional. I recommend this disc

to anyone with a taste for underground, unconventional indie rock.  (Scene Missing) may very well never become boring."- Indieville

Reviews from previous releases

"Enright's songs are uncomfortably personal-sounding; his narrators seem to follow you around explaining exactly what you've done wrong

and why it's impossible to make things right again. It can be over the top, for sure, but when you're in the proper receptive mood, it reaches in

and pokes you right where you already hurt. The music backing those narrators, however, paints a more hopeful picture -- it suggests that there's

some good lurking at even one's unhappiest times, and that it's possible to fuck up and hate yourself for a while and still be able to create

 something beautiful." - Splendid

copyright 2010 Ionik Recordings