Pitchfork

After four years spent languishing in the dark coffeehouses of Toronto, Canadian songwriter Hayden is ready to release his new album, Skyscraper National Park, on March 12th in the U.S. The album, which has been available since October in Canada, will be issued in the states by Badman Recording Co., which has distributed past releases by the likes of Rebecca Gates (Spinanes), Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), and Lanterna. Skyscraper marks Hayden's first release since 1998's Outpost/Geffen-released The Closer I Get, which featured a full band and more of a rock sound than his earlier work. Wasn't Geffen also responsible for Weezer's self-titled green album? We smell a pattern...

When Outpost dissolved in 1999, Hayden was left without a label. After floating aimlessly around the seedy backstreets of Canada for a while ("bud? bud? wantsomebud?"), Hayden reemerged with 100 handmade copies of Skyscraper National Park in the summer of 2001. Although the limited release generated a buzz, MTV refused to deem it truly "buzzworthy." And then Ian Robinson shook nervously like a paranoid Jesse Ventura and made the devil handsign. (More tattoos don't make up for your overt geekdom, kid.)

With the immediate success of these rare copies, a second limited-edition run of 1,500 copies were pressed and released by Universal Music/Hardwood Records in support of a brief Canadian tour. Once again, the album sold quickly, convincing Hayden and Badman Recording Co. to give the album a wider release. The new album is rumored to contain "a newfound sense of playful happiness and a greater reliance on the higher range vocals that were avoided earlier in his career," according to Peter J. D'Angelo. After all, isn't happiness swell?

Hayden will perform a one-off show at Convocation Hall in Toronto on March 9th, only days before the album's domestic release. In the meantime, look for the first video from the new album for the song "Dynamite Walls." It features Howie Beck, Kid Lunch, Mitch Roth, and a slew of other individuals with prefabricated, stylized names.