On October 21, Black Hearted Brother will be releasing their debut album Stars Are Our Home via Sonic Cathedral.
The band comprise former Slowdive and Mojave 3 man Neil Halstead, who released his excellent third solo album Palindrome Hunches on the label last year – read our Quietus Interview with Halstead around the time of that record’s release here – together with electronic artist Mark Van Hoen, who’s recorded in various guises, most notably Locust, as well as being a one-time member of Seefeel, and Nick Holton of Coley Park and Holton’s Opulent Oog. They’re long-time collaborators, having worked together on Halstead’s solo debut, Sleeping On Roads from 2001, with Van Hoen also co-producing a trio of Mojave 3 LPs and Holton lending his production skills to Palindrome Hunches.
The name of the game was to embrace the various sonic approaches each took – says Halstead of the album: "The idea was to just make a record that was in some ways ‘unedited’, to not worry about a particular sound or style, but to just go with the flow."
And as such, album cut ‘This Is How It Feels’ collides a plaintive verse, Halstead’s voice hooked around the warm glow of analogue synth chords, with a glorious uplift of a chorus, voices barely emerging from behind a swell of earth-shifting guitars and organ lines – have a watch of the video above and head over to Sonic Cathedral’s website to pre-order the album.
In further Neil Halstead news, he’ll be playing a couple of shows at London’s Cecil Sharp House on October 23 and 24, featuring a guest appearance from Slowdive/Mojave 3’s Rachel Goswell and pete Greenwood in support; full details and tickets are here.
