People are complicated. And expressing a desire to get complicated with them just compounds the situation, because you’re probably complicated too. If you happen to be Babette Hayward, or someone who anticipates dating Babette Hayward, apparently you can expect that to entail some manner of lowkey John Cusack-style gesture that involves one party or another turning up on a doorstep with something in hand – though not necessarily a boombox. As we said, people are complicated.
In her latest incarnation Hayward (formerly of electro-pop duo Vogue Dots) has released “Doorstep,” an indie-folk laundry list of her romantic misadventures which may, or may not, work for you about as well as it didn’t work for Hayward.
“A few years back, I started to piece together memories of turning up on friends’ doorsteps, confused because what I thought was one thing, was actually another,” says songwriter Babette Hayward. “The realization was that I’d wasted my time pining after people that never wanted me back.”
“My m.o. was to turn up with an elaborate or very specific gift, in order to win the heart of my conquest,” she said. “Some of these items include: a bonsai tree, an air mattress, and a very expensive glass teapot. Only after writing the song did I see the pattern in my attempts.”
The song comes as two-parter though – moving from one side of the pond to the other, held together with a deep reverberation and Hayward’s lyrics dancing along the surface. “Doorsteps” is heartbreakingly bittersweet in that it beautifully lulls us in, but keeps us balanced on an edge of unease.
The second half of the song, in which Hayward has departed from Atlantic Canada and escaping to the United Kingdom, effectively putting an ocean of distance between her and her romantic interests. Despite the relocation, however, it seems Hayward brought her cares along with her. “I really hate to think about the city that way, meet me at the lido like it’ll be okay,” she sings.
“If you’ve spent any time in East London, you may have heard of the lido, perhaps even been there before,” says Hayward. “For me, it was a place of reflection where I could mindlessly swim laps and remember the unwanted objects I’d left on doorsteps.”
Pining away in swimming pools is one way to work through things, and while it may sound like Hayward has lost more than simply an expensive glass teapot, gaining the song almost makes it sound worth it.