#23: A Simple Beautiful Truth with Hayden Thorpe

Hayden Thorpe is a solo artist and former frontman of Wild Beasts. His two solo albums — Moondust for my Diamond (2021) and Diviner (2019) — follow five albums with the band between 2008 and 2016, for which Two Dancers was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

Since discovering Wild Beasts through their album Smother in 2011, they’ve remained my favourite band, one I’ve returned to time and time again, the soundtrack struggle, triumph, and everything between. Hayden’s music continues the theme. Songs such as Diviner, Golden Ratio, The Universe is Alright Right, translate the ineffable with poetic melodies and spiritually-infused lyricism.

Sharing such an in-depth exploration of Hayden’s creative process was a joy. Topics include the transcendence of writing, the sacred nature of music, the energetics of stage performance, the merging of self and the source, the mystery of how certain songs find you at the right place, right time, shaping your life direction.

In tribute to Hayden’s approach to the divine and the earthly, we discuss the vulnerability of crises of confidence, risk-taking, the desire for validation, and how to honour ideas. Plus, we consider what immersion in the creative dimension teaches about the nature of reality, and the cosmic link between Newcastle United and Bristol Rovers.