Haley Heynderickx Performs In the Redwoods of Santa Cruz
Portland based singer-songwriter, Haley Heyndrickx and Brooklyn, NY based brass instrument players, The Westerlies, welcomed crowds to their penultimate show at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz, CA on Jan. 31. With Heynderickx’s delightful voice and tenderly vulnerable songwriting, her music brings chills down fans’ spines. The concert brought tears, laughter, wonderfully played and articulated brass, and most importantly, truly touching songs filled with meticulous story telling.
“Seed of a Seed,” the album her tour is celebrating, released on Nov. 1, 2024 makes listeners feel every possible emotion. Whether it be sweet or somber, all emotions feel catered to; like Heyndrickx knows exactly what listeners are going through in that moment. Though Heynderickx’s songs can be quite low, she makes up for it within her beautiful, in-depth and delicate story telling through recollections of her past.
Heynderickx opened her set with her acoustic song, “Drinking Song,” which was incredibly surprising since Heynderickx rarely plays the song during her set, making it special; almost like a little present for her second to last show of the tour. “Sorry Fahey,” Heynderickx’s opening song with The Westerlies’ bass playing in the background set the mood for the following hour to come. Tatiana Ray, an attendee of the show shared which song she loved the most that was played during Heynderickx’s performance, she said, “Probably, ‘Sorry Fahey.’ I’ve been listening to nothing but the Seed of a Seed album for months. Like I’ve been listening to it probably around like 20 times a day…” “Sorry Fahey,” feels like a cup of warm tea in the woods, as does any of Heynderickx’s discography.
Although Heynderickx’s set mostly consisted of her new album, whenever Heynderickx’s older songs from her 2018 album, "I Need to Start a Garden,” were introduced, the audience would clap and cheer. The moment Heynderickx introduced her viral song, “The Bug Collector,” the crowd cheered and sounded the most excited they had been throughout the show. “The Bug Collector,” which encapsulates Heynderickx’s genre and style of her music, was performed beautifully. The song describes attempting to help someone you love with a history of problems, but slowly coming to terms with the fact that you can. This theme is shown through the metaphor of a praying mantis and other bugs. It is completely understandable why the song is a fan favorite for Heynderickx’s music, as it is an incredibly emotional song as it combines with the melody of Heynderickx’s guitar fingerstyle.
For Heynderickx’s song, “Redwoods (Anxious God),” it was fitting that it was being performed within the Santa Cruz Redwoods. When she introduced the song, Heynderickx described how this song came to be, “Sometimes you ask the trees questions and after you walk within them they might give you an answer.” Attendee of the concert and resident of Santa Cruz, Ellis Ray, said, “I loved when she played ‘Redwoods,’ because I’ve worked in forestry for the last five years, so whenever I go and fight fires or anything like that I’ve found a great affinity with trees.” The song connects people all across the city, as it was written about the city, which made it feel incredibly personal when it was played at the Rio Theater. When combined with The Westerlies brass, the song becomes elevated, “Just the added instrumentation of the song is so perfect. Especially when you're used to hearing the orchestration of the album, it brought a bit of that to this concert,” said T. Ray.
Heynderickx’s improvisational nature to her songs make her performances that more sacred. Heynderickx’s stage presence can be displayed as, “A totally holistic way where she is letting you see not just her pain, but also her real feelings on everything which takes a lot of strength,” according to T. Ray. Heynderickx’s heart is truly worn on her sleeve during her performances. T. Ray said, “I feel like it’s so needed and so great that she's also still performing that way even now, it feels like she hasn’t lost that performance style.”
The concert itself felt like it could have ended at any time and made sense, almost like receiving closure from any song with all of its sense of comfort and serenity. Whether you knew Heynderickx’s whole discography or knew one song, it was overall an experience that felt like there was a mutual understanding between the crowd and Heynderickx. Those who went to the concert unfamiliar with any of her new music still enjoyed the experience, solely because her music is so easy to listen to and feel the emotion within her genuine lyrics portrayed through her masterpiece of a voice.