NEW YORK — May 29, 2020 — Born in coastal Massachusetts but raised in Nicaragua, Hayley Sabella has always been inspired by dramatic landscapes and vast seasonal changes. Her new album, Flew the Nest, mixes nature-inspired confessional tales with close-miked vocals and spacious, full arrangements. Out today, the album is as intimate as it is melodic and pop-driven.
In 2019, Sabella and her partner rehabilitated a 1978 VW bus with the intention of seeing North America. Their journey didn’t last long — the bus broke down just a few weeks into their journey. Sabella was propelled back home with the inspiration needed to complete Flew the Nest, an album that is comfortable sitting in uncertainty. On the album’s eight tracks Sabella and producer Daniel Radin (of “bummer-pop” band Future Teens) create “widescreen arrangements and intimate vocals for an album that explores transformation and taking ownership of your experiences,” Folk Radio UK said.
Album opener “Ordinary” questions how, when our dreams take shape, they’re often less exciting and more human than expected. “It Was There” is a self-love anthem about taking ownership of your experiences, and choosing to frame them with your own insight, while title track “Flew the Nest” is a minimally edited, nostalgic collage of memories, images and reactions.
Originally released as part of her sophomore album, Forgive the Birds, “Cape Cod” is a cross between a love song and an apology to the place she stored her high school angst. Like their relationship, the song also underwent an unplanned transformation, from a confession to an anthem. AudioFemme notes that Sabella “finds comfort in the transformative,” on the new version, formerly a sparse, acoustic offering now turned into a full-band anthem.
“Sorrow:Joy” exemplifies what Sabella has become known for: simplicity in truth-telling, combining poetic lyrics with gripping melodies.
“July Rain” embodies the emotional release of a summer thunderstorm, catharsis in its truest form; American Songwriter premiered the track, noting how the song addresses “the emotional interpolation between water and human behavior.”
“Imaginary Sunshine” and “Windy” are two sides of a coin, the first examining faith, and the latter a prayer of sorts, surrender of a desire for certainty, and an invitation to feel emotion without judgment.
Simply, Flew The Nest is an album of transition and growth. “Good things come from sowing seed, but you can’t remember each one’s name,” Sabella sings on the album’s opening track. “You just feel its weight as it drops away. Oh, this is all so ordinary.” And that, it seems, is the point.
Sabella’s 2018 album Forgive The Birds garnered acclaim from Rolling Stone Country, Billboard, American Songwriter, The Bluegrass Situation, and others, and led to invitations to support legendary artists including Emmylou Harris, Ry Cooder, and Ryley Walker, to name a few. Flew the Nest reveals the next chapter of music from Sabella, and invites us to consider our own journeys through these songs. In Sabella’s music, the forces of nature are a path to understanding ourselves. Singing, “still water with an endless bottom – dive in, show ’em if you got ’em,” she creates a space for the listener to explore their own inner landscape.
Flew the Nest Track List:
1. Ordinary
2. It Was There
3. Flew the Nest
4. Cape Cod
5. Sorrow: Joy
6. Imaginary Sunshine
7. July Rain
8. Windy