Four years ago Gemma Hayes was poised to become a household name. Her native Ireland had already succumbed to the fresh-faced, guitar-toting blonde, David Gray had taken her on tour, and her debut album had attracted a Mercury Music Prize nomination.
Hayes, however, must have taken a wrong turn. Night on My Side, her intriguing debut on which feisty folk nestled next to indie-rock, failed to set the charts on fire. After a year on tour Hayes fell victim to writer’s block. While Katie Melua cleaned up, Hayes fled to LA in search of a new sound, new band and new songs.
Hayes’s comeback should have begun last October, with the release of a new album, The Roads Don’t Love You. And yet here the 27-year-old found herself playing a room above a pub in front of an audience of fewer than a hundred.
Despite the size of the crowd — or perhaps because of it — Hayes was visibly nervous. “I don’t know if any of you have ever come out of the toilet with your skirt stuck in your knickers,” she said, “but that’s how I feel.” Unfortunately, the audience was made up mostly of men.
Half-hidden behind an acoustic guitar, looking like a cute little doll, Hayes pressed on, presenting new songs accompanied only by a chap in hat and scarf who played drums and keyboards from the same seat.
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Another for the Darkness and Easy on the Eye were both pleasant pop with melancholy melodies, but neither was particularly moving. Better was Happy Sad, just jaunty enough to get toes tapping, and In Over My Head, a brand new, broody ballad with a dash of Joni Mitchell.
But it was tracks from Night on my Side, notably the rocky Hanging Around and Back of my Hand, that made the most impact. Hayes’s lilting voice took on a husky hue, she proved herself a proficient guitar player and even started cracking jokes. Despite some so-so songs, Hayes has a bewitching quality lacking in a lot of her peers. When she tours later this month with a full band she had better make the most of it if she hopes to regain that lost ground.
Gemma Hayes’s 14-date UK tour starts in Bristol on Feb 21