Alex Bayly - 'Animal'
British alternative-folk singer/songwriter Alex Bayly shares his haunting single, ‘Animal’, taken from his debut album ‘Ley Lines’.
Citing influences from 60s folk artists such as Nick Drake, Davy Graham and John Martyn, ‘Animal’s sees Alex Bayly’s sophisticated and sufficiently brooding vocal accompanied by trickling acoustic guitar work, spacious percussion and poignant strings.
There is something hypnotic and oddly calming about ‘Animal’. It’s a tranquil yet dark song that creeps through dreamlike instrumentation and woozy vocals. This is a song simultaneously anchored in emotion while feeling raw and surreal as Bayly maturely bears the scars of mental and emotional distress at the hands of another; “you made an animal out of me”.
Yes indeed, emotions can be wild, untamed and evoke the feral side of us that incites our hunger for survival. They can eat away at our sanity, abuse us, back us into a corner, or see us desperately clawing at a cage in which we may one day learn we were complicit in our own captivity.
While ‘Ley Lines’ was released in 2019, ‘Animal’ is indicative of the darker direction of Bayly’s forthcoming releases, which we hope we don’t have to wait too long to hear.
Words of Karla Harris