Review Fix chats with Heartsounds Guitarist and Vocalist Ben Murray who discusses the band’s new album “Internal Eyes,” as well as their unique vocal harmonizing and goals for the future.
Review Fix: What song on the album do you think is the best example of what the band is capable of?
Ben Murray: Hmm, I’d say maybe the third track ‘Internal Eyes’, and the last song, ‘The World Up There’. Both of those songs contain a good amount of dynamics and tempo changes, and in my opinion display what we are capable of. There are some cool riffs in each of those songs, and a lot going on vocally, especially in terms of the ‘trade-off’ dynamic between Laura and I. Each song also shows our tendency to write really melodic riffs and vocal melodies, while still maintaining a sort of intense feel.
Review Fix: What did the band learn during the creation of the album and how will it affect you guys moving forward?
Murray: I think we learned that we can really accomplish something if we set our minds to it, as cheesy as that sounds. We knew we were going to do release this record ourselves on our own label, and control the entire process. It was definitely a bit daunting, but we pulled it off I think, and we’re really proud of that. I think the whole writing and recording process also made us a bit closer as friends and bandmates, and we’re all really stoked on how it came out. I think we’ll have more confidence moving forward.
Review Fix: What do you think the band has to do in order to get the recognition you deserve?
Murray: I think we’ve already gotten more recognition than we deserve, haha. We really don’t play a ton of shows, yet a good amount of people seem to dig us. We’re just trying to enjoy ourselves and make sure we’re having fun before anything else, if people seem to enjoy our records and like our band, that’s a total added bonus, and we couldn’t be more grateful. If the band ended tomorrow I’d be beyond satisfied and happy with what we’ve done.
Review Fix: Not many punk bands have such solid vocal harmony as you guys. How do you make it work?
Murray: Laura and I usually come up with the main vocal melodies first, and once we’ve gotten those locked in, we start figuring out the harmonies and who is going to sing what line, usually based on whose voice suits the part better. In terms of the actual harmonies, we don’t do anything super insane or complex, but we like to sing in harmony a lot, I just love the texture and feel that it creates. We have Queen, Bad Religion, and A Wilhelm Scream to thank for that.
Review Fix: How did you decide on an album cover?
Murray: Our buddy Dave Kloc designed this record’s art, and he absolutely killed it. We gave him some general visual ideas based on the lyrics to the title track on the record, but he completely surprised us, and took our ideas and ran with them to a place we never thought even existed, haha. He rules so hard, one of my favorite people ever!
Review Fix: How was Constant Crossroads written?
Murray: I wrote the music and lyrics to that song, and it actually came out pretty easily. It kind of reminds me of something that would be on ‘Until We Surrender’, because it’s more of a mid tempo fun punk song, without much technicality. I wanted those kinds of tracks on this record though to balance out the dynamics of it. I think I just started with the first riff of that song on guitar, and went from there. Each next part came to me pretty smoothly. Once I had all the music done, I wrote the lyrics, which deal with my own insecurities with not being able to play music more often in life, and why I can’t seem to be able to do that.
Review Fix: What’s your goals as a band?
Murray: Just to enjoy ourselves and keep writing music that we love. That’s all that really matters to us.
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