Review: The Naked Hearts – Mass Hysteria
With a title that implies musical dissonance, the Naked Hearts‘ new album, Mass Hysteria, is really anything but. Amy Cooper (guitar) and Noah Wheeler (bass, drums) take turns singing lead and, along with occasional boy/girl interplay, they each own their respective songs with a healthy mix of downheartedness and adoration. Wheeler’s special sense of urgency and Cooper’s seductive melodies make it easy to fall headfirst in love with each three-or-so minute song, making Mass Hysteria a pretty near perfect experiment in pop music.
With the opening track, “Like I Do” — “No one/ No one/ No one likes you like me — the duo flirt with a Blake Babies-inspired sound. Cooper continues to lead the listener on with her pretty Suzanne Vega-esque pitch in “Call Me”: “First Light On Your Hair So Pretty/Walls White Fall Behind You Into The Ground”. Other stand out tracks like “Grow” and the title track, “Mass Hysteria,” may have simple names and uniquely catchy chords but they all manage to strike at the heart strings in a way not every tightly-crafted pop song is capable of accomplishing.
Even though it seems to be an exercise in the unrequited, this new record by the Naked Hearts – of what we consider love songs — left us with a full heart and a happy glint in our eyes.
Here are a couple of tracks from the album:
mp3: “Like I Do” by The Naked Hearts
mp3: “Call Me” by The Naked Hearts
Editor’s note: review by contributor, Lora Grillo. Thanks, Lora!
