An eerie and poetic album
Miles Hewitt recently released his debut album, Heartfall. After leading The Solars for a few years with his poetic lyrics and haunting instrumentation, he decided to venture out and find his own sound. Heartfelt is exactly what its name entails, an album filled with poems and deliberate lyrics. Sometimes his overall message is not clear and leaves room for the listener to find their own meaning in the words or search for one. Hewitt uses haunting imagery and storytelling to leave the listener thinking. Behind his lyrics, he uses mainly guitars, piano, and drums, but occasionally shows in electronic sounds to try something new. Heartfelt is full of variety, but maintains an eerie sound and poetic lyrics that force the listener to think to find the message or meaning behind it all.
The first track, “Moongreening,” starts the album off on an eerie, yet calming tone where the vocals and imagery-filled lyrics take lead. Behind the vocals float orchestral strings and haunting piano chords. His lyrics contain images that seem disconnected but are strung together to tell his story. The lyrics could be interpreted in a number of ways, whether it be a dialogue on the passing of time or a story of struggle. Leaving it up to interpretation gives a variety of listeners the opportunity to connect with his music.
The next track, “Art of War,” is a spooky, anxiety-filled song. Beginning with dark electronic sounds and racing drums, the listener is pushed into an uneasy state from the get-go. The story here is once again somewhat unclear as he tells stories of children playing in woods, trying to survive and trying to stay calm. It could be interpreted as a poem on the anxieties and disparities of war, but could also be interpreted in other ways. The instrumentation is just as interesting as the lyrics. Hewitt begins with the anxiety-riddled racing drums, but the song changes the tone by transitioning to just vocals and peaceful piano halfway through. However, the eerie electronic sounds and racing drums suddenly come back accompanied by children’s voices. The song is unsteadying, yet an intriguing listen.
The fifth track, “Words Out of My Mouth,” takes on a much more peaceful sound. Hewitt sings over an acoustic guitar that is being plucked. While the chords are eerie, the vibe remains much more relaxed than other tracks. He sings of the passing of time and life falling slipping away quicker than wanted. The dark sentiment is complimented by his airy, distant and spooky vocals. The song transitions between acoustic guitar and his voice to a fuller sound that contains layered vocals, multiple guitars and distant drums. This is another alluring track that invites the listener to ponder the lyrics.
The seventh track, “Reporter,” is a provocative dialogue on news and history. Hewitt strays away from the eerie folk sounds and leans more into psychedelic rock and indie sounds with a twangy telecaster, electronic sounds and supporting drums. He sings about news and history being reported and questions the truth of all the story lines told while also questioning the media and history. The intriguing instrumentation follows his story in the background.
The final track, “Visions,” takes on an eerie acoustic sound again as he sings about the duality of people. His poetic lyrics continue as he tells stories of self-identity and watching other people find their identities. He sings that he could have been something else and that he is a different person from his past. Similar to the people around him, he has changed and been asked by others to change again. Behind his poetic lyrics are multiple guitars and orchestral strings, similar to the first track. He goes between relaxing and eerie, anxiety-inducing electronic sounds.
Overall, Heartfall is an impressive 10-song album that contains a variety of sounds, but keeps haunting and artistically lyrics in the spotlight, which challenges the listeners to think about what his words truly mean.
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