I discovered the music of Haley Heynderickx through her entries to our Tiny Desk Contest. Her tunes were thoughtful and somewhat frail. Now she's written a catchy ear worm I'm eager to share called, "Oom Sha La La." It's an admittedly silly track, Haley told me via email, something she wrote for a song challenge. "When you are in an active pursuit of creativity, we can't forget how necessary it is to create those embarrassing pieces of poetry/music/art/writing that humbles us, too. I had no idea how much fun it would be performing it and sharing it with the band. At first, it just made me laugh, but eventually it got serious. I felt uncomfortable with the honesty of the lyrics, but now I simply surrender to it. Hopefully, I'm not too embarrassed by it in a couple years. 'Oom Sha La La' is about the doubt we may feel attempting to derive meaning from our daily lives."
The video for the song was done on-the-fly, trying to capture the very simple essence of the song. "Sometimes simplicity and chaos can work very well together," says Haley. "My favorite detail is how this field of flowers was grown by a woman who made wishes with every seed planted. Working through a difficult period in her life, she grew something so beautiful out of this chaos and was kindly willing to share with us. It's also a reminder how we could all potentially feel better taking the time to start a garden. It's about the little details mattering, and I thought it was funny how silly the phrase was to say out loud, yet feels pretty dang good when you trick your friends into singing it with you."
The album I Need to Start a Garden, will be released in early 2018 via Mama Bird Recording Co.
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