Scene and Heard: The Head and the Heart
Though Seattle-based indie band The Head and the Heart has released just one studio album, its members are becoming seasoned performers in Golden Gate Park. Last October, the band played Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and, on Saturday, August 10, Jonathan Russell, Josiah Johnson, Charity Rose Thielen, Kenny Hensley, Chris Zasche and Tyler Williams assembled on the Sutro stage at Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival to sing the harmonies on their standards including “Down in the Valley” and “Rivers and Roads” alongside new songs from their forthcoming Sub Pop album, Let’s Be Still, slated for release on October 15. “We’ve added more instrumentation, more synch, keyboards, orchestration and strings,” said Williams, the band’s drummer, who traveled to L.A. after the San Francisco performance. The Head and the Heart were in L.A. to film a music video, meet with music supervisors, and to see a Levi’s Haus screening of a documentary film about The National called Mistaken for Strangers.
The Head and the Heart had a more robust sound at Outside Lands that can also be heard on the new album. “This time around,” Williams said, “We spent time getting good tone, bringing in different drums, and we’ve been playing these larger venues and I think that naturally our performances have become a little bit bigger.” There are other changes as well on the band’s sophomore record. “The songs are more mature and the subject matter is a bit weightier,” he added. Williams said the songs are composed through an editing process, the band figures out “where to move parts of songs to make it work the best, to make it flow and move.” But there are still beautifully quiet moments as well. On the Sutro stage, Johnson played a yet-to-be-named song that he recently wrote. “It’s brand new, it’s not even on the new record,” Williams said. However, the tune may appear on an upcoming album once the band works out the instrumentation. “We have all kind of fallen in love with that song and Josiah does a pretty powerful solo version of it. But we haven’t had time to learn any new stuff while we’re kinda still learning to play the older stuff.” But you won’t be able to request Johnson’s song by name just yet. “We don’t name songs until we have to,” Williams said.
by Elizabeth Varnell
Setlist:
“Sounds Like Hallelujah”
“Cats and Dogs”
“Coeur d’Alene”
“Ghosts”
“Shake”
“Gone”
“Lost in My Mind”
“Another Story”
A yet-to-be-named song by Josiah Johnson
“Cruel”
“Winter Song”
“Down in the Valley”
“Rivers and Roads”
Pictured: Jonathan Russell, Josiah Johnson & Chris Zasche of The Head and the Heart at Outside Lands.
Photo by Mor Weizman
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