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The Head and the Heart announced that their next LP, Living Mirage, is due out May 17 via Warner Bros. Records/Reprise Records. They also dropped the first single from the LP, “Missed Connection,” on Thursday (March 14).
“Missed Connection” comes with a lyric video for the palpitating, genre-fluid track, which they said began as a remembrance of how singer and guitarist Jon Russell met his girlfriend — but then morphed into a metaphor of how the six-member band serendipitously met at an open-mic night 10 years ago in Seattle.
In a press release, drummer Tyler Williams stated that the song is unlike anything they’ve ever done before. Williams attributed the new sounds to their love of pop and hip-hop production, stating, “A lot of the beats on that song are quicker, and there are high-hats that were never in our music before.”
The folk-rock band said Living Mirage signifies what bassist Chris Zasche describes as a “rebirth, a spirit quest of sorts,” following some changes in the band’s lineup (guitarist-vocalist Josiah Johnson amicably departed after their previous album, Signs of Light).
They began to create the record in Mojave Desert’s Joshua Tree and continued recording in Appleton, Wisconsin’s The Refuge Fox Cities, West Seattle, Omnisound in Nashville, and Barefoot Recordings in Los Angeles. Producers Tyler Johnson and Alex Salibian (Harry Styles, Sam Smith) and engineer Ryan Nasci helped bring the LP to life.
The result is a series of what singer Jon Russell sees as a sort of chronicle of stories and perspectives. He explained how he sees the 11 tracks on Living Mirage. “In my mind, the songs on this album are vignettes,” Russell stated. “Like ‘Brenda’ reminds me of when you’re a teenager at a house party. You’re surrounded by noise — ‘What am I doing here?’ — and a ray of light comes down and you notice this person. You’re like, ‘Maybe I will stay.’ These songs feel honest.”
The band will do a special performance from The Belasco in LA on March 21, which fans can live-stream via Live Nation’s Facebook page at 8:30 p.m. PT. They will give fans another “major announcement” about their plans for this summer and fall “across North America.”
Watch The Head and the Heart’s lyric video for “Missed Connection” below.