THE HEAD AND THE HEART

The Head and The Heart

The Head & The Heart See Signs of Light

Despite some bumps in the road, The Head & The Heart grow up (and grow together) on their third full-length album. Signs of Light is not far away from the spirit of the self-burned copies of their first album sold in local Seattle record stores. It is, however, much more welcoming of pop overtones and much more produced.

This is due in no small part to the hands of Jay Joyce who before producing THATH in a Nashville studio, worked with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Zac Brown Band, and Cage the Elephant–not to mention playing guitar for John Hiatt and Iggy Pop.

Like The Shins who perform in St. Pete on May 13, The Head & The Heart also appear on the soundtrack to a film written & directed by Zach Braff. The six-member indie folk group have been putting out emotional, easily consumable albums that pair well with a long list of well-known movies and television shows like How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, Sons of Anarchy, Roadies and Wish I Was Here.

But back to those bumps in the road. The eight-year journey from local to touring band to being picked up by a major label has not been a necessarily easy one. It was the non-stop performing after forming in 2009 that motivated a toured-out THATH to press pause in 2014.

They all took a deep breath and went their separate ways before coming back with what they described as “renewed sense of purpose” in the Summer of 2016 to write their first album in four years and their first for Warner Brothers.

After a succesful and well-produced album, the band kicked off the Signs of Light tour last year without one of its founding members, Josiah Johnson who was in rehab battling a drug addiction. For now, friend of the band Matty Gervais is filling in and will continue on as a plus one after Johnson returns at a to-be-determined date.

The Head & The Heart come together at the Fillmore in Miami Beach on Thursday, May 18. Show starts at 8pm. http://www.fillmoremb.com

~ Jessica Chesler