Spotlight On... Hailey Beavis

We absolutely loved Hailey Beavis’s debut EP Whatever You Feel I Do Too, released in January 2020 on OK Pal Records, the label she co-runs with Faith Eliott. Rooted in folk and country, there’s a warmth and sincerity in Beavis’s lyrics and vocal delivery that, put simply, just feels really quite special.

It felt harsh, then, that any progress Beavis might have made throughout 2020 off the back of that EP – like so many others – was taken away from her by the pandemic, and so it’s great to see her back and releasing new tunes in 2022. With Creative Scotland funding behind her, we can expect her long-in-the-works and hilariously-titled debut album, I’ll Put You Where the Trombone Slides, on 4 November via OK Pal. 

The album’s debut single Crow arrived alongside news of the album on 7 September. A gentle ballad about the journey of self acceptance, of the single Beavis reflected: “Looking back at my life, I could suddenly see the pattern, and I felt like the wrong type of animal, always trying to fit the mould and be something for somebody else. But at some point you have to accept your own true nature instead of trying to make it small and hidden. You have to be uncompromising and you have to walk away from things.”

Released today, the next single to come from the album is the upbeat and twinkling Anything That Shines, which feels weirdly nostalgic and anthemic. To celebrate its release, we catch up with Beavis to find out more about the single and forthcoming album.

We love your new single, Anything That Shines – it feels uplifting and anthemic, can you tell us what it’s about?

I found a wind up porcelain doll on the street by some bins once, many years ago. As she rotates and slowly unwinds, a fragile rendition of ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing’ rings out. I took her home, and there I recorded and looped a tiny section of this wonky toy piano melody. It was playful, but there was something so heartbreaking about this enduring figure, singing her cracked song of hope and friendship. Despite her stature, she was relentless and determined, and I thought that was worth celebrating.

I started adding some distorted bass lines, and this mix began to draw out the lyrics – my own cracked little song about hope and friendship. So yes, it is anthemic! It’s driving forwards and looking back. It’s my hand held out for friendship and my middle finger up in the rear view mirror.

We’re looking forward to the new record at the start of November – what are the themes explored across the record?

As with the new single, the record as a whole is the sound of me trying to find a home for the things that happen in life. Where do you put the unresolved? What do you do with the memories of the people, the love and the pain? I want to throw a rope around everything and haul it around with me, just as much as I want to set it all on fire and be free. Making an album seems like the perfect compromise! A place to put it all.

The album is called I'll Put You Where The Trombone Slides. I just love this idea of all the abstract and the emotion perpetually suspended in the act of a trombone being played. It’s a surreal thought, but comforting to me.

You say this album has been in the works for seven years – why is that?

There are so many ways you can frame a body of work. You could take it from the first song written for the album, or the time you began recording. I take this date from the time I stopped thinking about other work I had made and didn’t get to share, and the time misspent there. The transformation of self in those seven years that followed fascinates and amazes me. I see it all as part of the process and I see this album as a celebration of the determination that thrusts us ever forward.

The album was recorded on and off over the space of a year and a half. It began in my bedroom with engineer and producer Jane Loveless. We were finding moments to record between the loosening of COVID restrictions, and doing as much as we could remotely. When Jane moved to Japan for work, I turned to producer Ben Seal to help finish it. Whilst I wasn’t expecting to work with two different producers, the mix of approaches was so incredibly complimentary. I feel lucky to have worked with two of the best in one project!

Alongside the album’s debut single, Crow, you released a pretty wacky video shot on green screen. Can you tell us more about the video? Who made it, what was the inspiration for it?

Wacky is right! The video for Crow is the digital wizardry of my dear friend Jayson Turner (thoseEyes). Jayson created a series of live-streamed 3D worlds during the pandemic, where viewers controlled the show by making characters. It just looked like everyone was having the best time during what was a really difficult period. He built an amazingly inclusive community whilst honing his skills, and the video for Crow is an extension of that work.

Filming my video to green screen was hilarious because you’re essentially responding to the idea things, when there is literally nothing there. You have to quickly get over how ridiculous you look and feel, and throw yourself right into it.

We wanted the video for Crow to say that through art, not only can you tell your story but you can reshape the world around you. In this case, that reshaping revealed pink dolphins swimming/ flying into the rings of Saturn. But everyone has their own vision and their own story to retell.

On Instagram you say “My name is Hailey I fall over in my new video” about the accompanying video for Anything That Shines. Can you tell us more about this video as well please?

Turns out you have to fall over multiple times to get one good take, but it’s kind of fun!

The new vid was made with the classic OK Pal Records team: Videographer Mario Cruzado and artists Faith Eliott and Bart Owl. There is a level of artistic trust between us that comes from having worked together for so long. It tends to make the whole process of communicating much more fluid.

In the video I chase the orb of light, that unknowable guide. For me it represents an impulsive past and the chaos of misdecision. We wanted to keep things simple with a few handmade props, in a black box studio to let the narrative shine through.

Beyond the album coming out, what does the rest of this year hold for you and what are your plans for 2023?

To celebrate the album release I’m playing a couple of full band live shows, at Summerhall in Edinburgh on 5 Nov and Mono in Glasgow on 12 Nov. I’m so excited to have musicians Robyn Dawson, Mario Cruzado, Ben Seal and Owen Curtis Williams joining me on stage, It’s gonna be a hell of a show! The next step for me is getting a tour booked for 2023. In the meantime, I might do some therapy and I was thinking I’d like to make some big paintings! Right now I’m just super happy to be sharing what I’ve made.

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Anything That Shines is out now; I'll Put You Where the Trombone Slides is released on 4 Nov via OK Pal Records

haileybeavis.com