Weather Veins (Hailey)

WEATHER VEINS (Hailey)
Written By ENV DESIGN

I write music that ideally transports the listener (and me!) to other worlds. I channel prog rock and folk music into emotional vulnerability, enigmatic stories, and winding journeys.

Weird time signatures (lots).

My gender (transwoman, she/her) and my spirituality (animism and other things) are threaded through my songs, along with the influences of my Scorpio Moon and the quest for healing and depth that this placement entails.

I lived in the United States for 14 years, moving in the underground folk music scene there, and am pretty recently returned. Long ago I performed in world fusion and progressive metal and death metal bands Also, I’m really a bass player. All that flashy technical stuff I do on guitar? Bass skills. 

MEET THE SONGWRITER - 5 QUICK QUESTIONS:

Why do you write songs? (When/why did you start writing and what keeps you going?)

A: I’m self-taught, first picking up a bass when I was 19, guitar at 21, and as a self-taught musician…I learned by composing. I love challenging myself, technically and creatively, and each new composition feels like another chapter in an unfolding novel. Music is such a beautiful vehicle for connection with others, and for healing, and I’ll do it in one form or another until the day I die.

How would you describe the emotional world or themes your songs tend to explore?

A: Longing, animism, loss, dreams, transformation, healing, magic, shape changing, gender weirdness…I want people to encounter the Big Mystery and hopefully my songs give little glimpses of that magic.

Which artists or songwriters have had the biggest influence on your musical journey?

A:

Metal: Ihsahn, Tool, Enslaved, Emperor, Ulver, Isis, Neurosis, Death, Alkaloid, Sweven, Opeth, Cryptopsy, Chalice, The Third and the Mortal, Estatic Fear, Stargazer

Rock/Pop: Crowded House, Depeche Mode, Sophie B. Hawkins, Jeff Buckley, The Tea Party, David Bowie, The Doors.
Folk: Novemthree, River, Vradiazei, Noctooa, Fotheringay, Steel Eye Span, Musk Ox, Telling the Bees
Prog Rock: Jethro Tull, Khan, Yes, Malady, Steven Wilson, Steve Hillage, ELP, Renaissance, King Crimson, Pink Floyd
Other: Dead Can Dance, Vangelis, Greg Sheehan

Describe your songwriting process. How does a song usually begin for you?

A: Typically the music comes first, and that can take a long time if I’m composing something more proggy. Occasionally the words and music arrive simultaneously. Sometimes I’ve had to wait years, though, for the lyrics to appear for a composition.

If you were to be stranded on a desert island and could only take two albums with you, what would they be?

A: Ihsahn, Amr, and Musk Ox, Woodfall. Oh, and since I'm like that, I'll add a third: Bridging Realms by Dreadnought.


Where can you listen to Weather Veins’s songs?…

ENV DESIGN https://www.envdesign.com.au
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