The Head and the Heart’s name describes their approach to music over the last decade. In 2011, after selling 10,000 copies of their self-titled debut by word of mouth, the group re-released the record under the label Sub Pop. A gradual underground sensation, the band represented the popularity of the folksy sound that originated in the Pacific Northwest and leaked into pop music during the early 2010s.
In 2019, the Head and the Heart‘s singer and guitarist Jonathan Russel told Rolling Stone, “The difference between whether you’re in a van or on two buses [while touring] is if you’re on the radio.” This calculated incorporation of pop songwriting into their rootsy palette explains their trajectory since their debut. Its follow-up, 2013’s Let’s Be Still, also released by Sub Pop, fine-tuned their instrumentation and compressed a former wordiness, but did not aim for the top of the charts. However, following this record, they signed a three-album contract with Warner Records and swapped out the heart for the head.
For a certain type of artist, pop music is a gilded cage. In 2025, having completed their Warner deal, Russell told Rolling Stone the lack of “deadlines” and “expectations” made the creation of their sixth record, Aperture, the first with Verve, “the perfect time to recalibrate”.
According to Merriam-Webster, an aperture is “the opening in a photographic lens that admits the light”. In keeping with this definition, Aperture’s sound harkens back to the Head and the Heart’s first album, as if zooming in on their past selves. However, time has refracted the image. Aperture explores the possibility that the spontaneous energy of their debut may be too distant to recapture.
During the production of 2019’s Living Mirage, founding member and singer Josiah Johnson left the group. After struggling with addiction, he returned to writing sessions in a different mental and emotional state than his peers. Of this transition, Russell said, “[Johnson’s] music is very self-reflective… but it was apples and oranges from what I wanted to do.” The head and the heart of the band could no longer communicate.
Absent Johnson, Russell’s commercial approach yielded strong results. For 2022’s Every Shade of Blue, the remaining members worked with producer Jesse Shatkin, who has co-written songs for P!nk, Sia, and One Direction. On Blue, a heavy synth bass grounds the chorus of “Tiebreaker”, and the shout-along lyrics of “Hurts (But It Goes Away)” verge on cliche. In spite of these shifts, the record holds itself together through a commitment to a new premise. “Virginia (Wind in the Night)” best showcases this technique, as the band capture their signature wistfulness in a prominent hook, nodding to Russell’s home state in the title.
A combination of past and present is the entry point for Aperture. “Jubilee” conveys a loose, carefree spirit as the band proclaim, “I think I’m fallin’ in love again.” Throughout the track, drums, guitars, and piano meld to mirror their early work, haphazard sounds creating a cohesive whole. “Blue Embers” is a mellow profession of lasting devotion, and “Fire Escape” is a restless reflection on growing up, told by a narrator who recalls an apartment-side perch as a symbol of lost youth. “We watched it all go up in flames/that morning on the fire escape,” he says. The song’s clean narrative resolution shows that the Head and the Heart bring a thoughtful approach to songwriting, whether in an indie or pop style.
On a standout track from their debut, “Down in the Valley”, the Head and the Heart announced, “I am on my way back to where I started.” This statement could also serve as a thesis for Aperture, which features a reflectiveness often absent from the group’s Warner releases. “You and I were just ghosts in the machinery,” they say on the title track, alluding to those years of hustle.
This self-awareness follows the “aperture” motif, as the group observe their place in the music industry. In an interview with RVA magazine, Russell reflected on the experience of returning to his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, after succeeding as a professional musician: “I find it interesting to use a place like a mirror, where you can have the perception of who you are and who you’ve turned into.”
Pop music, at its best, also has reflective qualities. Its penchant for commercial success comes from an ability to capture the desires of listeners. In this genre, people see different, often glamorized, versions of their own lives. The Head and the Heart offer another type of fantasy, implying that consistency, authenticity, and simplicity can create a meaningful life. That being said, a lot of ambition seems to have gone into the promotion of this message.
In a 2022 interview with Spin, Russell said the title of the Head and the Heart’s fourth record, Living Mirage, incidentally described the circumstances of its creation, when they were attempting to hold themselves together leading up to Johnson’s departure. The weak spots on Aperture make his absence clear, suggesting that, after succeeding in pop, a return to the band’s original sound does not work as well without one of its founding members.
This shortcoming raises the question: Was a three-album venture into synthpop and radio play-pandering worthwhile? In 2025, Russell and his wife welcomed a daughter. The band’s guitarists, Charity Thielen and Matthew Gervais, also have two children of their own. In the era of streaming, music revenue has declined sharply. Perhaps the pursuit of financial stability is the best choice. When making practical considerations, the “head” may triumph over the “heart”, but, hopefully, it can create a space where both can flourish.