Hayden - Are We Good (2023) [Hi-Res]

The long-heralded king of Canadian slacker folk, Hayden will release his tenth studio album, Are We Good, a crowning achievement in his well deep catalogue of carefully hewn and heartrending indie folk – and his much-anticipated first new album since 2015's Hey Love.

Featuring guest vocals by Feist and co-writing by The National's Matt Berninger, the lead single "On A Beach" is easily the most uplifting and buoyant song in Hayden's downcast (and well deep) catalog, with its chorus of "we're drinking income taxes and there's sand at our feet." A spare bass groove, the gentlest of handclaps, Hayden's strained tenor, all explode into the honeyed melodies of the one Leslie Feist amidst a stream of harmonizing arpeggiators.

Hayden offers some of his best songwriting, painting with uncharacteristically broad strokes of emotion and sonic texture, like a cross between Pavement and Leonard Cohen.