Opening up on Aperture: Checking in with The Head and the Heart.
The Head And The Heart spill on self-production, therapy, and their sixth studio album.
photo by Jasper Grant, provided by Universal Music Group.
You may have heard them on your Spotify shuffle, the radio, or even on How I Met Your Mother or New Girl. Now, indie folk band The Head and the Heart promise you’ll be hearing them like never before in their new LP Aperture, set to release May 9. The title refers to the space or opening where light passes through a photographic instrument, but for the band, it’s also the ability to be vulnerable. This was an album influenced primarily by COVID-19, and the strange things isolation did for a group built around being and creating together. The band’s current six members all reflected on how that odd and scary time helped them change their approaches to both music and life, attributing the album to these feelings and how they “made it through [the pandemic].”
The band was candid about their journey with mental health, making numerous references to how the members had started going to therapy six years ago and how instrumental it had been to their music and process. Guitarist and vocalist Matty Gervais described the band like “a six way marriage,” one that requires communication and understanding not just about the music, but each other. As drummer Tyler Williams added, he’s learned to not “burn a bridge on a bad situation… this [the album] is what happens if you stick together.” The band also remarked on how these experiences shaped their Rivers and Roads Foundation, an organization named for their breakout hit devoted to equitable music education and support as well as mental health resources for young creatives in their hometown of Seattle. Grief and loss form a part of the album, but it’s fundamentally a “transmutation of grief,” of being able to commit to each other to create music.
photo by Shervin Lainez, provided by Universal Music Group.
Aperture is a self-produced endeavor, a stark change from the many advantages and additions studio assistance provides. But the band saw the stripped-back approach as a true return to form. There’s so many exciting things the studio offers, but now that they’ve been around the block, they have an appreciation for simplicity and an understanding that sometimes, less is more. The record has some fascinating compositional elements, including the fact that often, the recording was the first time all the musicians were playing together. This means many of the tracks feature spur-of-the-moment improvisation, shaping the overall tone and sound of the album. The band also elected to self-produce to highlight the work of the individuals and to shift their overall dynamic. The album also allows for the bandmates to take on new roles, like Tyler Williams making his debut as a lead vocalist, or pianist Kenny Hensely’s first written lyrics and vocals. Aperture manages the difficult balancing act of celebrating the old while embracing the new.
The album’s spring release is intentional for its symbolism of change, rebirth, and renewal. Multiple band members commented on the new children and babies in their life, and how it’s helped to change their perspective. Matty talked about how the joy of having children in his life and their excitement regarding learning about the world brought an invigorating energy to his life and music. Similarly, vocalist Jonathan Russell shared a heartwarming anecdote about a vinyl exchange he had with his niece, where he would send her 3 old records every month and let the music that shaped him also shape her.
The band also gave insight into some of their favorite tracks, like the new-available single “Arrow”, which was described as the album’s “mission statement.” Other highlights for the members included “Jubilee,” “West Coast,” and the title track, “Aperture.” All the tracks are defined by balance, a sentiment The Head and the Heart very much emphasized, describing one of the main themes of the album as “embracing the present, despite its contradictions.” It’s the togetherness, in spite of isolation, the light and the dark, the old and the new, and the expected and unexpected. It’s contradiction that creates Aperture.
edited by Alondra Romero.
photos by Jasper Grant & Shervin Lainez.