In 2022, The Head And The Heart released its melancholic opus, “Every Shade of Blue.” A 16-track “collection of songs that celebrates the beautiful mess that we were during this time of transformation”—aka the pandemic—the opening notes introduce the record’s exquisite complexity with a string section.
The album was a document of how six individuals separated by COVID-19 could bring their disparate ideas together, but the result was admittedly disjointed amongst some standout moments. It was also the final record of their major-label deal with Warner Bros.
“Aperture,” the band’s sixth LP released on May 9, couldn’t have come together more differently. “With this one, we just wanted to be way more concise,” drummer Tyler Williams explains, “but also more together through the whole writing process, where we’re all touching the songs from the beginning.”
There are certain things that signal a young band is on its way to “making it,” a record label and manager being two traditional music biz components. Over the course of more than 15 years, The Head And The Heart has produced dozens of relatable, sentimental songs, establishing itself as a folk-pop band full of choral harmonies, catchy songwriting and inviting performances.
By the spring of 2023, the sextet had no label or manager; they were bound by no one but themselves and it was a familiar feeling. The group’s self-titled breakout in 2011, which was picked up by Seattle’s legendary Sub Pop, was the last time they’d self-produced one of their records.
“We felt like we were in that position again where we were doing it for ourselves and not really having deadlines or outside influence or pressure put on us. So it really did feel like we were back to those beginning years in more ways than one,” Williams says.
“Aperture” began in Richmond, Virginia, in April 2023 at The Brink, a recording studio run by Mike Reina (who also works as Tame Impala’s front-of-house engineer), which also just happens to be across the street from Williams’ home. With two-thirds of the band present—including oft-songwriter and guitar player Jonathan Russell, pianist Kenny Hensley, bassist Chris Zasche and Williams—“things just felt a little more spontaneous,” Williams tells, “where we were not even really talking about song structure or chords or anything like that. We were really just jamming in the moment, and fully formed songs were coming out of that. And that was exciting, because we’ve never really written that way before. Usually somebody brings in like a chorus or an idea of a song that may be a little bit almost fleshed out, and then the band kind of takes it and adds their thing. But this one was much more in the moment and fresh feeling.”
The Head And The Heart are (clockwise from left) Matty Gervais (guitar, vocals), Chris Zasche (bass), Jonathan Russell (guitar, vocals), Tyler Williams (drums), Charity Rose Thielen (violin, vocals) and Kenny Hensley (piano): Photo by Shervin LainezViolinist Charity Rose Thielen and guitarist Matty Gervais were intentionally left behind as the couple had recently welcomed their second baby in Seattle, but the pair were ecstatic to hear the foursome’s efforts from this first session, which included emotive album tracks “Pool Break” and “Cop Car.”
The latter is “a great example of the in-the-moment spontaneity that I’m talking about,” Williams says. “We literally ran a click track and just played music to this guitar part that Chris had, and basically what you hear is the one and only time we had ever played that song before. And then Jon just went and ad libbed his vocal. We were like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe how fast this is coming together,’ but we still needed that bridge part and an outro.”
Embracing the collaborative spirit, Williams reflected on Russell’s lyrics—with a refrain of “Ridin’ in a cop car tonight”—and the metaphor he’d constructed and continued to improvise the song’s bridge—the first time he’d ever sung lead on one of their songs. “Everyone was super supportive of me just getting in there and cutting it,” he says.
To wrap up the concept, Hensley brought the gospel-tinged “This Little Light of Mine” outro to the table. Inspired by how Jason Pierce of Spiritualized often sheds light on dark themes, The Head And The Heart wanted to twist the whole song on its head and bring “redemption and hope for something better to come out of a bad situation,” Williams says.
There’s a stark rawness to “Cop Car” in the intensity of Russell’s cracking vocal accompanied by unpolished studio sounds like muffled chatter and laughter. But it all meshes so perfectly with the six piece’s tried-and-true group harmonies, a hymn that harkens back to so many of those classic singalongs from their debut.
In our siloed and separated and constantly plugged in lives, creating space for communal moments—like live music—can be challenging. But when we come together to share an experience, it’s a powerful thing. The Head And The Heart has seen how audiences react to an ethereal moment like “Cop Car” in concert. “We’ve actually started extending that outro, because it just feels so good to sing together as a whole venue of people,” Williams says.
Some of The Head And The Heart’s most enduring early work features a songwriter and singer who’s no longer with the band. Founding member Josiah Johnson left the group in 2016 to focus on his addiction issues with drugs and alcohol, and Gervais stepped in, at first filling a role that Johnson might return to and later becoming a cohesive part of the unit.
On “Aperture,” Gervais has found his footing and become integral to the group’s sound.
“He went into this record process fully himself and ready to attack these songs with a tenacity that I’ve rarely seen in songwriters,” Williams describes. Gervais would take home impromptu jams from various sessions in Richmond or Seattle and return with “full lyrics, melodies and beautiful top lines and all this stuff.” Time and again, he “created this beautiful piece” when “we thought it was just a jam.”
“Watching him fully step up on this album and really taking the reins, you know, I think he’s the MVP on this record for sure. And it’s beautiful the way that the other songwriters have allowed that to happen as well, where there’s now this space for everyone to be on this record.”
In the early days of The Head And The Heart, everyone lived in Seattle, some even in the same house. Now, the band has two sort-of home bases on either coast, but distance makes the heart grow fonder. Tours almost feel “like a family reunion in a way, when you get back together after some time off,” Williams says.
There’s also literally more family around than ever before. Watch recent videos for “Arrow” and “Beg, Steal, Borrow” and you’ll see clips of kiddos running around stages and studios. Williams says the band has a backup plan: “You know, if we ever get too old to play music, let’s just pass the band down to the kids,” he laughs. “The Head And The Heart II, next generation.”
Even though some members are separated by almost 3,000 miles, “We’re kind of back to that living-in-one-house, family feel again, and that was how this record really was made,” Williams says. “Living together while recording hasn’t happened in a long time. It was nice to wake up and have coffee and breakfast before we walked over to the studio.”
Released on May 9, 2025, "Aperture" was self-released on the band's own label, Every Shade of Music, and was their first self-produced effort since their self-titled breakout in 2011.The record’s title has a few different meanings, but “one of the ideas is opening up the aperture to the collective vision of this band and allowing all of those influences onto the record,” Williams says. For the first time in a long time, the six members had full autonomy to do whatever they wanted to do, and everyone contributed to the final product.
“It’s kind of amazing how many songs we were able to create in the moment when we’re all feeling trusting of each other, and we can be vulnerable together in a room and no one’s going, ‘Well, I don’t like that idea.’” Williams describes. “It was a lot of ‘yes, and’ on this record instead of ‘no, but’—that was our mantra: ‘Yes, and let me add this idea to it.’”
“We stopped judging on this record prematurely,” he continues. “There was no expected outcome or desire. It was just, let’s go in and make music and not worry about what it sounds like until we listen back.”
“This album also feels vulnerable because it is so much us. There’s so much of our spirits in it. Collectively, I think, more so than almost any record since the debut album, everyone was very heavily involved in this record in a way that can feel vulnerable when you put your souls on the line and you let out your inner thoughts.”
Discussing another, more poetic perspective, Williams says: “The aperture on a camera is the technical piece that allows more light in to expose the image. It’s the idea of allowing more light in, even though there’s darkness—and I think the song ‘Aperture’ is really about that. You can get lost in a rabbit hole of doomscrolling on your phone. You can get lost in politics and war and all this poverty and terrible things happening to immigrants in the streets every day. Focusing on the brighter moments can enhance your life. You can feel alive while also fighting for good in this world.”
