Hayden Norman Thorpe (born 18 January 1986) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, originally from

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and currently based in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

, London.

Career

From 2002 to 2018, Thorpe was the frontman of the indie pop band

Wild Beasts Wild Beasts was an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in Kendal. They released their first single, "Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants", on Bad Sneakers Records in November 2006, and subsequently signed to Domino Recording Company, Domino ...

, which he initially co-founded as a duo with guitarist Ben Little. Eventually expanding into a four-piece, the band released five studio albums on Domino Records to much critical acclaim, yet only modest commercial success. Following the band's dissolution, Thorpe pursued a solo career, and released his debut album ''

Diviner Diviner, also referred to as the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE), is an infrared radiometer aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, part of the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program which is studying the Moon. It has been used to create t ...

'' through Domino in May 2019. In July 2021, Thorpe announced his second album, '' Moondust for My Diamond'' to be released 15 October 2021 via Domino Records, the announcement came with a video for the song "The Universe Is Always Right".7 In 2024, Thorpe released his third album ''Ness'', a musical interpretation of author and poet Robert Macfarlane's book of the same name, about the

Orford Ness Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from th ...

nature reserve in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

Musical style and influences

Thorpe is often noted for his distinct, operatic

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a ...

vocal style, which critics commonly described as being both unusual and an

acquired taste An acquired taste is an appreciation for something unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who has not had substantial exposure to it. It is the opposite of innate taste, which is the appreciation for things that are enjoyable by most people without p ...

in the field of indie rock. Thorpe has cited

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

and

The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

as amongst his musical influences, as well as writer

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

on his lyrics.

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (2019) * '' Moondust for My Diamond'' (2021) * ''Ness'' (2024)

EPs

* ''Aerial Songs'' (2020)

References

1986 births 21st-century English singers English male singers English bass guitarists English male guitarists British male bass guitarists English people of Australian descent Rhythm guitarists Countertenors Domino Recording Company artists Living people People from Kendal 21st-century British male singers People from Walthamstow {{UK-singer-stub