Since its debut in 2011, The Head and the Heart has consistently released fine albums. The group is one of only a handful of American bands that keep hope alive for pop-rock-based music. It has an indie, roots flair and creates real music while continuing to grow its ever-expanding popular following.
The new album seems to signal yet another crossroads for the group. After two albums on the indie powerhouse Sub-Pop label, which is based in Seattle, Washington, where the band came together, the group signed to Warner Brothers for two albums and, after one more for the Reprise imprint of Warner Brothers, it is now part of a revived Verve Forecast label, which distributes the group’s new album. It is the first under the band’s own label Every Shade of Music, echoing the title of its 2022 album Every Shade of Blue.
The seminal releases from the Verve Forecast imprint in the ’60s included artists as idiosyncratic and beloved as The Blues Project, Richie Havens, and Tim Hardin. Since 2004, the imprint has been revived and has included artists such as Jesse Harris and Teddy Thompson and others who align with Verve’s jazz beginnings, such as Jamie Cullum and Lizz Wright.
Since its third album, the group has released albums whose titles reflect the visual aspect of its approach to music—Signs of Light, Living Mirage, Every Shade of Blue, and the new album Aperture. The band paints pictures of evocative impressionist images with its music and lyrics, and all of the group’s members share songwriting credit.
The members also remain jubilantly optimistic in the face of the modern-day apocalypse that plays out in the news and online every day. This is not blind faith, but instead a celebration of truth and beauty, which reflects the essence of the group’s music, and the hope that people’s better selves will emerge.
A song like “Beg, Steal and Borrow” with its distinctive rhythmic and piano-based sound should be sitting at the top of the pop charts. Yet, a song like “West Coast” demonstrates such timelessness that it sounds like it has been around forever. This may be the band’s most personal album to date and its first to be totally self-produced by the group. The vinyl edition includes a limited-edition, huge fold-out color poster, and the vinyl comes in a poly-lined sleeve.
Few groups in the past 10 to 20 years have remained so true to their ideals and created music so organically, while achieving as much deserved acclaim and success. This new album will again make listeners feel and think.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
