Premieres here on the V are usually broken down into three categories: Videos, songs, and albums/EPs. Boston singer-songwriter and guitarist Hayley Thompson-King has managed to combine all three this morning with “Teratoma”, the first clip in a five-song video EP that was recorded at Armory Sound in Somerville and titled, appropriately enough, Hayley Thompson-King Live at Armory Sound.
The series, which will feature four additional videos and songs over the next four months, was engineered by Pete Weiss and shot and directed by Planchette’s Luke Boggia and Ashleigh Carraway. But before we start daydreaming of the alt-country and guitar-ballad revelry to come this summer, “Teratoma” arrives just in time to see Thompson-King — who is trained in opera performance at New England Conservatory of Music and the daughter of a Florida cowboy, known in these parts for her work in bands like psych-pop veterans Major Stars and lo-fi campfire trio Banditas — return to the stage this Sunday, April 24 at the Mercury Lounge in New York City. She’s back in town next Sunday, April 30, to perform live at the final show at Allston thrift shop and DIY space Store 54, alongside the Upper Crust.
If “Teratoma” is any indication, Thompson-King’s new series will have her tugging at those broken heart strings. And it’s probably not wrong to look deeper into its title given the her lyrics. Thompson-King, however, is a bit coy in explaining the country/western track.
“‘Teratoma’ is about alot of things,” she tells Vanyaland. “I guess it’s a thing that has a huge effect on you not because of what it actually is, but because of what you project on to it.”
Watch the video below, and wait for that powerful conclusion.