Interview

Breaking the mould: Gemma Hayes on clashing with record labels and rediscovering her creative spark

A less than positive experience working with a major label, then having children, drew singer-songwriter Gemma Hayes away from the music scene – but she’s back with a philosophical album of ‘what life’s all about’

Gemma Hayes: ‘I never had a very clear idea of what I wanted; I was just playing music, enjoying it, and thinking, ‘God I’d love to sell millions of records.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

Gemma Hayes is in a pensive mood, as befits a songwriter whose work pivots between serious life experiences and an indie folk/rock style influenced as much by Nick Drake as My Bloody Valentine. The Tipperary woman’s loose definition is “deconstructed folk-pop”, which in these times of genreless music tastes seems about right. You would be forgiven for perhaps not being fully aware of Hayes’s activities in recent years – she has, after all, been away ...