Hayden Shares Video For ‘Are We Good,’ Releases New Album Of The Same Name
The title track was co-written by Matt Berninger.
Indie-folk rock artist Hayden has released Are We Good, his hotly anticipated first new album in eight years. The album is out now courtesy of Arts & Crafts.
Introduced by “East Coast,” “Miss Fort Erie,” and “On A Beach (feat Feist),” Hayden’s triumphant ninth studio album is a crowning achievement in his well-deep catalog of carefully hewn indie rock, dating back to his debut album Everything I Long For in 1996.
“On A Beach (feat Feist)” was released last month alongside a cinematic, star-studded official video, also featuring the inimitable Leslie Feist with cameos by Matt Berninger of The National and beloved actor Steve Buscemi (who Hayden last worked with on the music for Trees Lounge, Buscemi’s 1997 directorial debut). Today, April 5, Hayden has shared the stirring love song and album title track “Are We Good.” which was co-written with Berninger and premiered with FLOOD Magazine.
“This song was hanging around for a while with a bunch of mumbled lyrics I had as place-setters,” recalls Hayden. “The only line that stuck was the refrain ‘are we good.’ I sent it over to Matt [Berninger of The National] and he came up with the rest. When I read the lines ‘Are you worried about the past, coming back to you too fast, Are you worried about the sea, And what’s going on underneath,’ I knew I’d sent the song to the right guy.”
A meditative and electric tune, “Are We Good” is quintessential Hayden, with unabashed nods to the fluidity of Leonard Cohen and the buzz of Crazy Horse. As the album’s namesake, “Are We Good” posits Hayden Desser, peppered and grizzled (by the pandemic or parenting), in an attic studio stand-off with writer’s block during early lockdown. The album’s eleven songs were written, produced, and mixed predominantly by Hayden at Skyscraper National Park, the attic studio of his Toronto home.
