I currently reside in Portland Oregon, but grew up in NY City and have been singing and playing acoustic guitar since I was 12. My earliest influences were, and continue to be, confessional singer-songwriters such as Paul Simon, Neil Young, Nick Drake, and my hero, Joni Mitchell. My songs are intimate, lyrical and melancholy. I write for my own catharsis, but also with the hope that my songs will move others emotionally, and perhaps have them view their own challenges in a different light.My music is melodic, incorporating intricate finger picking and unexpected chord changes. Derk Richardson of the SF Bay Guardian writes:"Helen Chaya evokes the complexities and ambiguities of love with startlingly original poetic slaps upside the psyche." And the Portland Mercury writes:"These are straightforward songs that sound like melancholy raindrops."