The Head and the Heart (2017)

One Liner: Folky, beautiful indie rock from the Seattle crew behind that "Lost in my Mind" song
Wikipedia Genre: Indie folk, folk rock, and indie rock
Spotify Says Similar To: Blind Pilot and Dawes
Home: Seattle 

Poster Position: 3
Slot: Sunday at 6:15pm

Thoughts:  I've seen these guys live before twice (once at FFF, then in 2014 for ACL), and enjoyed it thoroughly each time.  They are pretty gentle and lovely, but they really put on a good show anyway.  And their new album is a little more lively.  I reviewed that new album (2016's Signs of Light) and enjoyed it quite a bit.  I also previously did a review of them for that 2014 show, so I won't go back into my review of their first album either, because I kind of already did that.  (but I still love "Library Magic," for what thats worth).

So what can we still talk about, if I've already reviewed all of their albums and gotten into some backstory?  Let's go deeper into the backstory for a bit.  First, here is their most popular track on Spotify for you to play as you read:

"All We Ever Knew," with 37.5 million streams (although several songs from their first album end up having more streams, that is the currently most popular one on Spotify).  I like it.

The band is from Seattle, and formed in the summer of 2009.  Oddly, their Wikipedia page says that the lead singer has been on hiatus since March 2016 because of drug addiction-related issues.  Which seems like it would make it hard for them to show up at the Fest as a band.  According to this Feb. 22, 2017 article, he is still out.  Their website gives an interesting bio, explaining that they all pretty well shot off in different directions in 2014 after four years of non-stop touring, but then came back together to make the new album. Although, sadly, it doesn't even mention that lead singer (Josiah Johnson) until the very end in mentioning that he wrote the title track for their most recent album (which is a very lovely track, by the way, sounds like the good version of Coldplay).  Feels kind of like a bummer.  I can't find any news saying that he is back with the band, so who knows what their live show will sound like these days with a new singer.

Here is the most listened to track from their sophomore album, 2013's Let's Be Still.  This is "Another Story," which has 23.2 streams.

They just make really pretty music.  I can see people not liking it, just because their tastes are different, but it really is a lovely style that is well executed by these folks.  I hope that Johnson gets his stuff together and comes back to the band.

Sadly, I already know I'm not going to see them play this year, as they are up against Run the Jewels.  RTJ MOFO!!!