Cast your mind back to early 2018, when a young band To Hell With Paradise released their debut EP Subconscious. Though finding it a solid start, in my review of the EP I shared that I craved something more emotive from the band, and looked forward to something richer that felt less creatively limited. Well hot damn, it looks like they’ve gone and done it!
Within 24 hours, To Hell With Paradise announced a rebrand to Heartline, and have released debut single “FRAIL”. The new project’s line-up consists of Luke Taylor (vocals), Fraser Stiles (guitar), Nevenko Sarunic (bass), and Michael Cooper (drums).
Stunned and pleasantly surprised by “FRAIL”, I made contact with Fraser Stiles to appease some curiosities about the impressive metamorphosis. Fraser shared that Heartline is the product of songwriting that began roughly 6 months ago, which sparked a realisation that the musicians involved “had something new we wanted to achieve together. So it all started there when we realised what we could do as a collective.”
There’s a distinct shift in sound, immediately feeling more progressive in sound and creatively exploring than the creations of the previous project. Fraser puts this down to the listening tastes of the band members, and this blending together while writing together. To my ears there’s also an obvious step up when it comes to production quality. Fraser affirmed this by sharing “That was definitely something we wanted to focus on. We spent a lot of time on our mixes until we were happy for sure.” Sam Trott is behind the mixing and mastering of the track.
Thematically, “FRAIL” hooks into the subject matter of anxiety. With its dark, erratic, and multi-layered sound, it forms a feeling of desperation to break out of the internal cage where they’re existing. Shifting from barrelling momentum to pockets of floatier sound creates a sense of dancing between being okay or being under the frantic grips of anxiety. It’s inconsistency of mind brought to life by sound and I love it.
With Fraser tight-lipped so far about details of what “FRAIL” will be a part of (whether an EP or album on the way), he did share that what’s coming ‘in the near future’ is all concept-based. “It’s mostly inspired by personal experiences of mine but it’s things that so many people can relate to really. We’re pretty excited to share what it’s about!“
Spend some time with this djenty beauty and get hyped!
