In pop circles, three years can amount to several lifetimes. On slightly rockier terrain, a three-year absence from the scene certainly seems to make the heart grow fonder. With that, it’s perplexing to find Gemma Hayes playing in the relatively intimate confines of The Village.
Suffice to say, someone in the Hayes camp has clearly underestimated the lasting appeal of the Ballyporeen lass and the venue is crammed to an almost humorous extent. Clearly, this ingénue’s charm has only gotten stronger in time.
Living in LA has apparently turned Gemma into something of a convivial host; laughing, she admits that she didn’t want to turn into a cliché by writing her second album on the road. Similarly, she regales the chattering masses with tales of dry-clean only swimsuits and egg-free omelettes – "a breakfast of air and fluff" she ponders sweetly.
Thankfully, living in such vacuous circumstances has done little to dent the calorific substance of her music. Some have described her music as the perfect marriage of both happy and sad (not least on the new single, ‘Happy/Sad’), yet it would be more appropriate to describe her music as a beguiling blend of lullabic serenity and lusty power.
There’s something rather solid about Hayes’ lusciously throaty rasp. Given the time lapsed since her last Dublin date, there’s an immediacy in her voice, as though such sentiments have been bubbling inside her for months. Older tracks like ‘Hanging Around’ and ‘Let A Good Thing Go’, in particular, are gilded with a certain delightful urgency. Meanwhile, the crowd-pleasers ‘Ran For Miles’ and ‘Back Of My Hand’ shimmer with a comely, lo-fi sheen.
This girl may possess a celestial kind of flaxen-haired beauty and allure, but make no mistake, Gemma Hayes often makes pretty music, but she can do much more besides. Much like tonight’s venue, she too can be somewhat hot to handle when the mood takes her.