Haerts - New Compassion

Haerts
New Compassion
2018
Spotify

Early on in this blog I used to really dig Hearts. I saw them open for St. Lucia in 2015 and the soaring somewhat haunted vibe was intoxicating. Their songs about love and truth felt deep and meaningful at that time, and their blend of folk indie and electropop felt like a natural progression from bands like Fleetwood Mac. Not to mention Nini Fabi's piercing vocal that more often than not feels very Stevie Nicks. Four years later this new album New Compassion feels like it has missed the boat a bit. Their first album was cutting and fresh, while this new one feels a bit dusty and stale. The electronics aren't as sweeping, the indie piece feels so dated and the vocals are far closer to whiny than they are haunting. The synths have taken a bit of a backseat for more down the middle productions. I wouldn't call the music sparse, but it is stripped down. "In This Time" is so on the nose Fleetwood Mac it almost sounds like a cover. When Nini starts talking about Bluebirds on "Signs" it is so awkward and weird. It feels like you are locked in a Portlandia sketch for almost the entire record. Hipster Music isn't really a thing anymore, but somehow that is the only way to describe what Haerts are doing here. The problem is that kind of music is far out of the zeitgeist now that it all feels a bit like playing around. The music has also slowed significantly on New Compassion each song dragging with sing a long bridges and other tired tropes.

It seems like all the risks they took on their debut have all but vanished here. The electronics, the male female vocal, everything has been diluted and rounded out. The song writing is so flowery and ethereal that by the time it gets to any kind of point you have already mentally checked out. You find yourself bopping your head at times but then that goodwill is squashed with really just absurd lyrics and production. The album's title track is this acoustic guitar romp and tries to sound like it was recorded live at some honky-tonk or something. The entire record feels like they are imitating something, their personality has all but vanished. It's almost like their language is flowery just for the sake of being flowery, it doesn't further their message or emphasize their point what so ever. The rest of the album just feels like a slog, similar song after similar song. I actually went back and re-listened to their debut record while writing this review and it just further proves how strange this sophomore release is. Maybe Haerts are looking for 40 and 50 years old's with this music, but this music has been done before and done better. Hopefully this is just a sophomore slump, but four years to record an album is typically enough time to come up with new ideas. This record has none.

4.6 out of 10