San Francisco – Brooklyn quartet HAERTS burst onto the scene with the release of their 2013 EP Hemiplegia, beckoning listeners into a sugar-tinged realm of bustling pop and heartfelt melancholy. With the release of their self-titled debut last fall, they have already solidified a concrete position as one of the most fascinating new pop bands to grace the sphere of modern music. Best New Bands caught up with the band’s singer, Nini Fabi, following the conclusion of their 2014 autumn/winter tour to discuss their influences, name and vision.
So, my first question is how did the name of the band come to be? Any significance behind the deliberate misspelling?
After we had been in the studio writing and recording the first songs for the album, we realized that we had no name for it all. Our goal was to find a name that felt natural and that was significant to us and this music. We did not want to look outside of what we were doing for inspiration because it felt a bit contrived, and so we started looking within the songs and the lyrics. The word “heart” was such a recurring theme in all the songs and its plural instantly felt right. We liked the idea of the irregular spelling for visual as well as conceptual reasons.
Who would you cite as your major influences? I hear a lot of 80s stylings in your music but the overall content is never quite as dark as one would expect.
I think our combined influences span over many decades and genres and the 80s is just one of them. Of course the use of certain sounds evoke that period, but we chose them because we love them and they felt right for the songs. Some of my big influences are Patti Smith, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, but also single songs like Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever.”
What other aspects of your world inspire you, apart from musical influences (i.e., environment, nature, politics, social issues, etc.)?
Everything can be an inspiration if you open your eyes and your heart. I’ve always written about the things that impacted me the most. The beautiful and the scary, the things I love and the things I fear the most and many times the fine line in between.
I’m curious about the structure of your LP. I reviewed it when it came out—and I love it—but the order of the songs puzzled me a little, especially putting “Hemiplegia” at Track 3. Maybe I’m just used to hearing that as an opening track having played the Hemiplegia EP practically to death, but I was wondering if you could offer some insight into your choice for the order?
We spent a lot of time figuring out the track listing. Since we recorded the material over a period of almost three years, it was important to us to make all the songs work together as an album. We thought a lot about the right flow and it heavily influenced the songs that eventually made it and did not make it on the album. It was a lot about balancing the lighter and the darker moments.
What sort of message are you attempting to convey with your debut LP as opposed to the Hemiplegia EP?
We are not trying to convey any specific message. The music is our way of communicating, and I think the message is unique for everyone who listens to it. The record, as well as the EP, are reflections of who we are, what we felt, [what we] went through [and] thought about and what inspired and impacted us during a certain time in our lives. It’s our truth and if people can maybe find their own truth, reflection, and inspiration in it, then that’s all that matters.
The first time I heard you guys, I was driving back to New Orleans from Houston the morning after a CHVRCHES show. It was sleeting, I was hungover…basically everything sucked. But I heard “Wings” come on my satellite radio and I was filled with a sort of brilliance, a sort of tenacity; I knew you guys were going to go far. I was wondering if you ever had that kind of moment…hearing a somewhat unknown band and being brightened by their potential?
Thank you for sharing! I think this kind of thing has happened to me many times with many songs. Most recently I was blown away by our friend Keenan O’Meara. He was our assistant for the tour with Mikky Ekko, and for the last night in Minneapolis we asked him to open the show with a few of his own songs. We knew that he is an incredible musician, but when he went up there with just an electric guitar and his beautiful voice it was a magical moment and I felt that excitement you are talking about.
Your music has a very bright, positive sound to it, but it carries with it this slight edge, as if to suggest some underlying heartache. Was that a tactical element or does it just come out naturally?
We sometimes joke about this, but it’s almost impossible for us to write a song that does not have a certain melancholy to it. It’s not a tactical thing, that’s not how we work. I have learned about myself that unless I feel something 100% I cannot write or sing it. It has to come from a true place and like many other factors, the “underlying heartache” is just a part of who I am and a place I’ve always drawn from.
What has been your favorite city to have some down time in over the course of your tour?
Our favorite cities during the last tours have been Detroit, Minneapolis and San Francisco.
What was your favorite album of 2014?
The War on Drugs’ Lost in the Dream
Plans for 2015?
We will be on the road, hopefully going to Europe at some point and are very excited for Coachella.
Lastly, if you could cover ANY song, what would it be? AND, if you could choose anyone to cover one of YOUR songs, who would it be and what song would it be?
Covers are hard. If you want to make a song your own you can’t just copy it, you have to feel it. I think “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum would be a good one. As far as someone doing a HAERTS song, I would like to hear Kate Bush do “Call My Name.”
HAERTS’s debut album Haerts is available via Columbia Records. Currently their only scheduled tour dates are at this year’s Coachella Festival in Indio, CA and Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, GA.
Photo By Albert Watson
Corey Bell
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