If I Had a Music Blog - The Head and The Heart

I'm about to reveal a pretty big secret to you.  Unless you're a close friend, I've been holding out on you.  Yes, even you, estranged Facebook-lurking friends who have just a little too much access to my personal thoughts despite never sharing thoughts of your own. The truth is, I was a little selfish this week, and I think I've been karmically punished as a result.  Consider this post my penance.

What does it mean to 'discover' something new?  We all have our own sources: trusted friends and acquaintances with similar tastes, blogs and websites from which we gather the information that shapes and molds our ever-evolving pop-culture sensibilities.   In this modern age of social networking, we place too great an emphasis on being the first to share information. We tend to want to take ownership of the things we like and want to keep them for ourselves.  As a result, we often trick ourselves in into feeling proprietary about the art we enjoy, and rather than be happy for the success of our favorite artists we snub them as they gain esteem.

But sometimes, when we really are among the first on the scene, it is hard to let go of that feeling.

I can't take credit for 'discovering' the Seattle-based quintet The Head and The Heart.  To give credit where credit is due, I first came across this band from the excellent I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog, and I can't even take credit for finding this blog on my own.  But I did listen when THATH was just a blip on the vast musical radar that pervades the internet, and I was quick to take to the band's bright, clean melodies and breathtaking harmonies.  When the band scheduled a show at Maxwell's in February, I made a conscious effort to recruit friends to join me for their show.  I took pride in sharing my appreciation for the band before the show.  And I was even more aggressive in my support for the band after witnessing their sublime performance in person.

If you've somehow missed the boat on this group, go listen to a few tracks, and then listen again, and come back and read the rest of this post after you've kicked yourself a few times for being late to the party.

I've been to quite a few concerts, large and small, and shows at Maxwell's tend to have a certain intimacy that is often absent from its sister venues across the river.  We Hobokenites appreciate the disdain New Yorkers have for PATH-ing it into the Jersey slums for concerts (though, sadly, not for cake), and Maxwell's stands as a hidden gem, a diamond in the rough, in the city that begat Sinatra and baseball.  Never, though, have I been lucky enough to happen upon such an unknown band that was so superb in concert.  The Head and The Heart won me, and everyone fortunate enough to witness their show, over for eternity.

The self-titled debut album from The Head and The Heart has started to make serious waves in recent weeks, as the band headlines shows across the country, selling out small venues in cities large and small.  The aforementioned FuelFriends blog even hosted the band at a house party before their SxSW and held a special recording session in a nearby chapel that captures the haunting beauty of the outfit to an even greater extent than their album, recently re-released by their new Sub-Pop Records label.

Even as they gained accolades spreading their post-modern gospel folk music to delighted critics and indie-rock circles across the country, I somehow managed to maintain a small feeling of pride and ownership about the band.  I watched closely as they continued to show off their diversity and skill in countless renditions of the song 'Rivers and Roads', a genuinely touching, heartfelt anthem of love and affection that brings a chill to my spine every time the epic chorus of 'ooh's' builds to a perfect breakdown in which singer Charity Thielen spins the song's namesake into a vocal shudder of emotion.  And take my word for it (you'll have to... but I'll get to that in a minute), the songs are even more touching, more heartfelt, more whole and full and beautiful in person than they have any right to be.

I should have known better.

Earlier this week, The Head and the Heart announced via Facebook (on which they have, of this writing, around 20,000 followers... compare that to fellow Seattle-ites Fleet Foxes with over 450,000) that they would be performing a show at Mercury Lounge.  And here's where it all comes apart.  Suspecting the tickets might be harder to acquire this time around (they didn't sell out Maxwells until the night of the show in February), I kept this nugget of information to myself, inviting a few friends to try to score some tickets with me, but neglecting to share my newfound adoration with the rest of the internet world until after I had the tickets secured.  I refused to invite more competition to the table.  Mercury Lounge only fits about 250 guests, as it is, and so it would be a challenge to get tickets to a high-profile act. Still, I was confident that with my advanced knowledge of the show I would be able to get tickets as soon as they became available and appreciate the group in a small theater one last time before they take to the festival circuit this summer and become the next big thing.

The show sold out in seconds.  The box office held some tickets to be sold on site, and, by the time it became clear that the online sales were off the table before I could refresh my browser for a second chance at tickets, a phone call to Mercury Lounge proved fruitless as well.

I'm ecstatic for The Head and The Heart.  They are immensely talented and deserving of the appreciation that befalls them.  I can't be angry that an earnest, hard-working band of musicians gains the popularity they rightfully deserve.  And yet I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy, a bit of ego, perhaps, that lets me think I've somehow earned the right to see them again.  Call me selfish, and I suppose I'll have to take solace in the fact that I was among the few who got to experience this band at all on their first headlining show on the East Coast.  But still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed.

So, in good faith, I share with you my love for The Head and The Heart.  I can't promise I'll be there to tell you about their next trip to the area (though all signs point to it being their Friday appearance at the Dave Matthews Band Caravan on June 24th).  I can promise you, though, that if you give this group a chance, they will not fail to deliver.

Listen to  The Head and The Heart 'Rivers and Roads':

• Doe Bay Session
• Parking Garage Session
• Tunnel Session
• SxSW Session
• Chapel Session