‘Supergroup’ back with a punch
The Heartbroken, a rootsy East Coast band, takes harder turn on latest album
What’s the deal? The Heartbroken traces its birth to boozy kitchen-party singalongs befitting the East Coast lineage of principles and co-vocalists Damhnait Doyle and Stuart Cameron, but the friendly off-the-cuff experiments in collaboration that hatched the quartet’s rootsy “supergroup” debut Tonight Tonight in 2010 have taken on a far more anthemic, rock ’n’ roll character on the just-released and rather long overdue followup Storm Clouds.
Could be something to do with the company the Heartbroken — whose mega-talented lineup is completed by go-to session cats Blake Manning and Paul Fusco — have been keeping.
Radio-crashing Toronto singer/ songwriter Serena Ryder produced a couple of cuts on the new album, including the faintly Florence and the Machine-esque “Tearing Me Up,” while hard-rock maestro Gavin Brown (Billy Talent, Metric) helped out with the infectious jangle ’n’ grind of “Going to Hell,” which might give you an idea of the polished, punchier direction things have taken these days.
In any case, the appealing results as heard on Storm Clouds are perhaps now a touch too big and blustery for a simple kitchen to handle.
And anything that gets Doyle’s voice back on the radio where it belongs qualifies as all right. Sum up what you do in a few simple sentences. Says the band:
“We live to play live and to feel that exchange of energy between us, digging a hole so deep we might not get out.
“Whether we are on stage together or in a studio live off the floor, we leave our blood and guts on the ground.” What’s a song I need to hear right now? “Tearing Me Up.” Shoots for the cheap seats. Where can I see them play? At the Dakota Tavern (249 Ossington Ave.) on Wednesday, Nov. 2. Early show, 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets $15 at Ticketfly.com.