Darren Hayman is a singer-songwriter from Brentwood in the United Kingdom. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist in the indie band Hefner, and he also releases music as a solo artist and under a number of side-project names.

Hefner

Hayman forms Hefner in 1992 in Kent with Antony Harding, who later uses the name ANT, on drums. The group later moves to London and is joined by John Morrison on bass, with Jack Hayter later added as a multi-instrumentalist. It begins playing live from 1995 and releases four studio albums from 1997 before splitting in 2002. Its releases also include a B-side collection, a live album and a compilation. Hefner’s songs focus heavily on awkward young men and their love lives, and the music has a lo-fi guitar-based singer-songwriter style. Hayman’s slightly nasal, off-key vocal delivery is part of the group’s sound, and the final album, Dead Media, adds more analogue synthesisers and drum machines.

Solo work and other projects

Hayman performs solo and releases the album Table for One as his debut solo record in 2006. He also issues a number of EPs. In 2007 he releases another solo album, Darren Hayman And The Secondary Modern.

Alongside his solo work, he records with John Morrison as The French, releasing one EP, one album and one single between 2003 and 2004. He also makes an EP with Joël Neumatic as The Stereo Morphonium, a project described as more electronic and still officially ongoing.

Other bands and collaborations

Hayman plays bass and sings in the indie bluegrass group Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee with Dave Watkins, David Tattersal of The Wave Pictures, and Dan Mayfield. He also plays bass in the live line-up of Ellis Island Sound.

Style

His work is associated with indie pop, indie rock, indie folk, folk, folk rock and electronic music, and the tags linked with his name include indie, twee and British. Across his projects, he often works with guitar-based songwriting and uses electronics in a number of recordings.