The Head And The Heart: The Head And The Heart (2LP, 15th anniversary edition) [CAROLINE / EMI]

Why you'll love it

This 15th anniversary edition remasters the debut on 180g vinyl and adds seven bonus tracks on a second LP. The album was first self-issued in 2010, picked up by Sub Pop in 2011, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 15th anniversary edition
• Remastered
• Seven bonus tracks
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

Before the festival stages, The Head and the Heart were a handful of Seattle musicians who met at an open mic and started singing together. Jonathan Russell, Josiah Johnson and Charity Rose Thielen built the band's sound on stacked harmonies, piano and violin, and those voices are still the first thing that grabs you. Kenny Hensley's piano and Chris Zasche's bass fill out the room, and Tyler Williams keeps a gentle, steady beat.

"Down in the Valley" and "Lost in My Mind" are wide-open singalongs, "Rivers and Roads" builds from a whisper to a full-throated shout, and "Ghosts" and "Cats and Dogs" bounce along on piano. The bonus LP adds 2009 demos of three album songs, a live "Rivers and Roads" from a Queen Anne house show, "Oh Virginia" live from Doe Bay and "Chasing a Ghost."

The songs circle wanderlust, connection and the people you leave behind, themes the band has carried through every album since. Fifteen years on, it still makes a long drive feel like it's going somewhere, even when the drive is the 401 at rush hour.

Also at Kops: more The Head and the Heart on vinyl · browse Folk

Tracklist

Listen

On Caroline / EMI, a reissue of the 2010 album.