Our first thoughts on hearing Heath, were something along the lines of "hmm, very nice"; our second thought, on seeing the absence of any substantial information about them, was "oh dear" - our 'mystery band' alarm bell being set off.
Heath are an alternative pop three-piece who formed in the latter part of last year, and their launch on a fresh Brighton sea breeze and a waft of fish 'n' chips in January, "won attention from blogs worldwide" (the PR says) upon the release of debut ‘Give Me Over’ (and perhaps partly on the hype of mystery...), the lead track from the four-song EP, 'February', which came out through the Killing Moon label on April 14.
They played their first gig in March in Brighton, and that is near enough it, apart from that first debut - deemed as "epic" by some - and the other EP tracks. They don't even supply a stock group shot: the photo above being taken at the aforementioned live show.
When we put a few questions to Heath, the response, whilst not wildly illuminating, did proffer a smidgen of 'colour':
"We have been over here all your life - hey!
The dark pining melodies are dictated to us by our disfigured older brother who we keep in the loft. He can't speak but he plays little tunes on an old harmonica. I'd imagine he's pining for a better life in a cruel world.
We all play a bit of everything but in the main, Sam is the keys and chords man - building layers of colour from a strip of black and white, Rory is the 80s head - having to be restrained from the chorus pedal of his guitar, and the bite of his favourite snare samples, Tom is the pained crooner out front - bringing those pining melodies to life, whilst adding the finishing touches to the sound with the echoed strum of a six-string, or the pounding of a drum.
We were up to many things before HEATH. But we don't talk about that any more ;)
HEATH x"
"Tom" turns out to be Tom Staniford, who aside from being a former folk artist also makes music videos, including last year's visuals to 'Hurt' by acoustic guitarist Mike Dignam.
As to the songs themselves, lead track ‘Give Me Over‘ is a well-crafted indie-pop number that moves at a fairly slow pace for the first part, before picking up and swelling extravagantly over broken beats and an elegant piano. Vocally in a similar vein to Fyfe and Bastille and Fyfe, standing out particular on ‘Hope So High‘; while the near five-minute ‘Dartmoor‘ and closer 'Speak Out' are of a deeper, more brooding persuasion.
Linn Branson
No comments:
Post a Comment