This week Portland singer/songwriter Haley Heynderickx is finally releasing her long-awaited debut LP, I Need to Start a Garden, via Mama Bird Recording Co. Heynderickx seems excited, but also a little shocked by the buzz its singles have already generated at national outlets like NPR, Pitchfork, and the New York Times: “I feel very confused and spoiled by the attention,” she says. “I feel like that guy who’s been writing a book for 10 years.”
Heynderickx didn’t spend that long working on her debut, but laying down its eight tracks posed a challenge for the thoughtful songwriter, who says she was thrown off by the tattoo-like permanence of recordings. It took three attempts—the first in a barn at Pendarvis Farm—before Heynderickx and her band were able to capture those elusive tracks with producer Zak Kimball at the now-defunct Nomah Studios.
“Finally those songs have lived enough times and died enough times that everything was ready,” she says. “I think some musicians are so primed and they love the recording process so much that they’re just ready to hop in there, but I feel like I’ve been really allergic to it and it just took me a long time.”