CREDIT: GEMMA HAYES
Pick up Gemma Hayes' Bones + Longing over the holidays and enjoy a few cheery tracks.

If you haven’t heard of Gemma Hayes before, then you’re about to be swept into the comforting embrace that we all need so dearly amidst this crisp and shrill winter.

Hayes is a folk singer/songwriter who occasionally treads on the edge of alternative rock while retaining a cheerful yet mellow demeanor. Her latest album – Bones + Longing – hit the shelves on November 17, and it is certainly a record to add to your collection.

Hayes currently resides in Dublin, Ireland but grew up in a number of villages and towns around the country. This has given her music the bittersweet twinge of melancholy that is often associated with Irish music. Don’t let this deter you from giving her a chance though – her music is still quite optimistic, and she has a lot to offer.

Contrary to her fellow Irish folkers, The Twilight Sad, her album starts off cheery with the aptly named song “Laughter.” This track begins with an upbeat acoustic guitar and a charmingly simple drum rhythm that drives the song and sustains the upbeat feeling throughout it. This song is one of the more aggressive tracks on the album, save for the distorted roomy guitars that are present in the verses. These cloudy guitars drop out for the chorus, however, and we can fully appreciate the depth of Hayes’ wonderful voice.

Her singing is reminiscent of Cacie Dalager from the American band Now, Now. If you haven’t heard of the band, let’s just say that Hayes’ voice will captivate you and resonate in a way that makes you calm and reflective. Her voice is warm, with a hint of sadness – like the beginning of fall, when it still feels like summer, but all of the trees have started to change colour.

This album is unique because it isn’t purely an indie folk composition. Hayes has a way of gently blending electronic instruments into her mash up of folk guitar, mellow distorted strumming and ambient drones. This is skillfully highlighted in her song “Joy,” which uses a soft pulsing synthesizer to extenuate the melody of her acoustic guitar and retain the song’s upbeat aura while the guitars withdraw.

Much of her electronic additions in this album reflect 8-bit music – what you hear on display in old arcade and Game Boy games. It would seem to be an unlikely pairing, but Hayes is an artist with vision, and it has certainly paid off for her in Bones + Longing. “Chasing,” the most electronically-inspired song on this album features an 8-bit resonant bass line alongside a mix of authentic as well 8-bit drums. At some points of this song, her singing resembles that of Hayley Williams from Paramore and again displays how dynamic she can be.

Hayes’ voice is unique while retaining an air of familiarity that seems draws you closer with every progressive note.

If you only listen to one song on this album, make sure it’s “Palomino.” This song accurately captures the essence of the album. Its soft melodies on acoustic guitar are overlaid with memorable vocal phrases. The song is topped off with a small amount of synthesizer that sounds like soft bells being played. “Palomino” isn’t the most upbeat by far, but it is catchy, and a good introduction to Bones + Longing. Rating: 4 out of 5