The Head And The Heart — Success Scrambled The Songwriting Process

The Head and the Heart is an American indie folk band. They were formed in the summer of 2009 by Josiah Johnson and Jonathan Russell. The band currently includes Russell, Charity Rose Thielen, Chris Zasche, Kenny Hensley, Tyler Williams, and Matt Gervais.

As it so often does, success scrambled the songwriting process for The Head and The Heart. When they bloomed at the intersection of folk-rock and indie rock 15 years ago, having inked a deal with the powerhouse Sub Pop, they wrote, worked, and recorded as a band, everyone in a room putting pieces together. But major labels, major producers, and major life changes steadily encroached on that approach, sometimes prompting Jonathan Russell to write and arrange in a silo. It worked for a spell, but tension began to show in the seams, leading to records that could occasionally feel forced and band members that sometimes questioned their own roles.

That all changes on Aperture, which began with a return to that earlier strategy, with assorted members sequestering together for sessions that let them explore new territory as one. Folks who had never written offered material, and still others stepped up to the microphone. They produced the songs themselves, too, an atavism that afforded the songs renewed urgency. “Arrow” sounds like a cascading The Head and The Heart classic that’s always been here, while “Jubilee” swings and shimmers like their old labelmates The Shins.

But they also suggest a band reborn, from the bounding piano pop of “Fire Escape” to the self-effacing candor of “Cop Car.” The ballads are balletic and astounding, too. “Blue Embers” gathers slowly—indeed, like smoke—as harmonies lift a tune about forgiveness of one’s own faults. And “Finally Free,” the sole tune that Charity Rose Thielen leads, is astounding here, her voice curling like Karen Dalton, forever in search of some new horizon. Aperture ends with its title track, the thesis statement serving as a triumphant final statement of purpose. “Come alive, come alive, come alive,” they sing in unison near the close. “What does it feel like?”

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