& The Villains
indie rock SINGER- SONGWRITER
Biography
One Sentence: Portland’s Hayley Lynn crafts cinematic indie rock that turns emotional volatility into anthems about self-destruction, recovery, and starting over.
100 Word Bio
Portland, Oregon songwriter Hayley Lynn cut her teeth in the indie-folk and pop world, landing songs on Netflix’s Money Heist and The Pier, as well as ABC and Big Ten Network. Over the last few years she’s traded in the soft-focus singer-songwriter lens for a louder, rock-forward sound—channeling the grit of Joan Jett and Blondie with the emotional honesty of Maggie Rogers. Her 2024 EP The Art of Letting Go: Side A won multiple PNW Music Awards and set the stage for Firestarter, a forthcoming album about reckoning with a Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis and learning to live with the fallout. Onstage, it’s a cathartic, electric heart-to-heart backed by her rock-and-roll band, The Villains.
Bio: Hayley Lynn planted the seeds of her music career in Portland, Oregon’s indie scene, starting out with a sultry, folk-pop sound that carried her far beyond her hometown. Early EPs and her 2018 album Bring on the Flames led to song placements on Netflix’s Money Heist and The Pier, as well as ABC, the 700 Club, and Big Ten Network—rare territory for a truly independent artist. In 2022 she released Horizon, a lush, cathartic record written in the thick of the pandemic, and followed it with 2024’s The Art of Letting Go: Side A, which earned PNW Music Awards for its title track and the single “Align” and sold out Portland’s Revolution Hall Show Bar.While those records live in the world of indie-folk and atmospheric pop, the Hayley taking the stage now is louder, sharper, and undeniably more rock and roll. The forthcoming album Firestarter is a turning point: a rock-forward collection that traces her experience receiving and learning to live with a Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis. Across the record she leans into volatility as a kind of fuel—swinging between self-sabotage and self-rescue, tenderness and rage, collapse and rebirth—without ever losing the memorable melodies and “velvet voice wrapped in an ocean of sound” that first drew listeners in.
Live, Lynn brings these songs to life with a full band and an electric presence that nods to The Runaways, Joan Jett, and Blondie while still feeling distinctly her own. She’s taken that show on the road throughout the U.S. and Canada, with performances at Red Ants Pants Music Festival, Oregon Country Fair, Northwest Folklife, Golden Gate Park Bandshell, Hotel Café, and more. Whether she’s whispering a confession or driving a chorus straight through your chest, Hayley Lynn writes like someone who has seen the edge, taken notes, and turned them into something you can shout along to in the dark.
Venues Include: (OR) Winningstad Theater, Bloodworks Live Studio, Mississippi Studios, Jack London Revue, Old Church Concert Hall, Pioneer Square, McMenamins Al’s Den, White Eagle Saloon, Boons Treasury, Gearheart Hotel, Alberta Street Pub Monthly Residency, Strum PDX, Hallowed Halls, Kelly’s Olympian, Myrtle Creek Music in the Park, Bit House Saloon, Atlantis Lounge, Dobbes Winery, Lady Hill Winery, Left Coast Estate, Elizabeth Chamber Cellars, Nomen Winery, Avid Cider, Market of Choice Summer Concert Series, The Secret Society, Terminal Gravity Brewing, Suttle Lodge, Campfire Hotel, Side A Brewing (WA) Westin Amphitheater, Maryhill Winery, Anderson Hotel, The Pickled Fish, Shelburne Pub, Conor Byrne, The Vera Project, Dwinell Country Ales, Galeotti’s Wine Cellar, The Rendezvous (CA) Golden Gate Park Bandshell, Hotel Cafe, Humbolt Cider Company, Hotel Slo, Thrillhouse Records, Lost Chord, San Antonio Riboli Winery, Four Lanterns Winery, Schooners, Blush Wine Bar, Alibi Aleworks, Cottonwood Restaurant, Bar 101, Seaventure Resort, Fig Mountain Brewery (NV) DLC Gallery, Verdi Local Distillery, Makers and Finders, Verdi Tavern (CO) Roxy on Broadway, Boco Cider, OCC Brewing (NM) El Rey Court, Rolling Still Distillery (BC) Café Du Soleils, Vinyl Envy, The Heatley.
Festivals: (OR) Crash Landing Music Festival, Portland Rose Festival, Mac Music Festival, Corbett Fun Fest, Oregon Country Fair, Painted Hills Music Festival, JM Long Ranch Music Festival, (WA) NW Folklife (MT) Red Ants Pants Music Festival.
CONNECT
“Hayley Lynn is a musical attention-getter. She not only knows how to get your attention; she knows how to keep it. Her songs are well written, well played, well sung. Her voice is extraordinary. Her vocal range and songwriting ability leave one excited about the infinite possibilities the future possesses.”
“Organically gripping and raw, Hayley Lynn’s sultry timbres extend through the various depths of her vocal range as she is soft-spoken but packs a punch when her lyrical motifs drop. ”
media feature
Music Review by A & R Factory
Write up from BUZZ MUSIC
