Kevin Bronson on March 9th, 2022

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Detroit-born, Louisville-reared and L.A.-based Gavin Haley crafts songs that he says “bleed heartbreak” but rely on beats and his boy-next-door flow to keep things upbeat. It’s not new, his hybrid of slickly produced modern pop and hip-hop, but it’s effective, adding bite to his clever lyrics (e.g., “I love the conversation where we don’t even gotta say a word”).

Haley starting songwriting young, but music took a backseat to his other passion — cycling — for many years. He competed for the U.S. national cyclocross team before shifting gears to music. He’s released an EP per year for Red Bull Records, starting with 2019’s “Long Game” through last spring’s “Bike Rides Alone.”

“Body Language” is Haley’s first single in almost a year, and, yeah, it’s pillow talk with flow. The singer-songwriter has been getting comparisons to Ed Sheeran, and that’s not far off.

||| Stream: “Body Language”

||| Also: Stream “Bike Rides Alone” in its entirety

||| Live: Gavin Haley opens for Tate McRae on Monday at the Fonda Theatre (tickets) and on March 17 at the Observatory (tickets).