THE HUMAN HEARTS Release New Single and Video Still In Error
The Queens-and-Brooklyn indie band led by Franklin Bruno shares the visual ahead of their new album.
The Human Hearts, the Queens-and-Brooklyn indie band fronted by songwriter Franklin Bruno, have announced their new album Faith & Credit, out November 13 on Dromedary Records. The band is sharing the album's lead single 'Still In Error' and its accompanying music video, directed by Scott Jacobson (The Daily Show, Bob's Burgers).
On the song, the band's Franklin Bruno shares: 'The main thing about the 'Still in Error' video is that it isn't a put-on: I really couldn't ride a bike. (Short version: I was an only child with overprotective patents, and didn't seem to matter once I started driving.) So I'm not acting: I'm learning in real time, and we're documenting that. I wanted to make this video years ago, for a song called 'Sorely Tempted' by my previous band Nothing Painted Blue, but it never came together. In my mind, the song 'Still in Error' is partly a sequel to that one, and Scott Jacobson (the director, playing himself) liked the idea, so we shot most of it in Upland, California, in front of the house where I grew up. I didn't achieve liftoff that day, so I practiced in NYC with our drummer Matt Houser, and took a free lesson through the Parks Department – with twenty other non-riders of all ages, shapes, and sizes – which finally got me up on two wheels in Prospect Park.'
'I was committed to not having the video end in defeat, but the song is more ambiguous. The lyrics are about never being sure whether you're doing life right, whatever that means, and who gets to pass that judgement, whether in school, the workplace, a music scene, or society at large. The music started with a two-chord riff, and the way the band started playing it suggested a drone-y, bottom-heavy approach: I'm not ashamed to say I hoped we'd end up in the neighborhood of Yo La Tengo, The Clean, and early Stereolab. Along with his genius mixing, the toys in Mitch Easter's studio helped us realize the texture: half a dozen shakers taped to Matt's body for a drum overdub; a late-model Vox organ with some mysterious, underused presets; and the Russian distortion pedal that inspired Pete Galub's unhinged guitar solo – which is longer and louder when we play this one live.'
Faith & Credit is the fourth full-length from The Human Hearts, the Queens-and-Brooklyn indie band fronted by veteran songwriter Franklin Bruno (Nothing Painted Blue, The Extra Glenns/Lens), and their first release for Dromedary Records. Recorded and mixed by jangle-pop legend Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Game Theory, Let's Active) at his Fidelitorium Studio in North Carolina, the album's 13 songs move freely between propulsive Yo La Tengo/Clean-style drone, post-punk art-funk, polished roots-pop, Motown/Mersey stomp, and harder-to-pin-down hybrids.
The album's stylistic range is unified by assured band performances, Bruno's unpretentious vocals, and his sharply observed songwriting, which pairs wit, concision, and an ear for rhyme with pointed political and social commentary. As Robert Christgau wrote of 2024's Viable, 'Bruno writes socially conscious although not therefore ideological songs, which means he's a very smart guy who sees the world the way I and I bet you do.'
On Faith & Credit, Bruno turns his attention to urban isolation ('Cover Your Tracks!'), financial instability ('Faith & Credit'), infrastructure policy ('Shovel-Ready'), and the uncertainties of middle age ('Still in Error'), alongside more personal subjects like renting a backhouse month-to-month ('Guesthouse'). These aren't finger-wagging protest songs so much as clear-eyed observations of what it means, and how it feels, to exist in America now.
Though rooted in Bruno's songwriting, The Human Hearts are very much a band. Bruno (vocals/guitar/keyboards) has released more than 20 albums since 1990, first with Southern California's Nothing Painted Blue and later as a solo artist, and has worked with The Mountain Goats, Tsunami, Laura Cantrell, and The Schramms. He is also the author of a book on Elvis Costello's Armed Forces in Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series and the poetry collection The Accordion Repertoire. Longtime collaborator Matt Houser (drums/percussion), a friend of Bruno's since the Nothing Painted Blue days, has appeared on every Human Hearts release since 2012's Another. Pete Galub (guitar) makes Faith & Credit his first album as the band's fully integrated second guitarist, while Brandon Kalber (bass) was a full participant in the album's rehearsing, arranging, and recording. Bob Bannister has since taken over bass duties for the band's live shows.
The album also features a cast of longtime collaborators and guests, including Annie Nero on vocals, Mark Spencer (Son Volt, Laura Cantrell) on harmony vocals, and horns and strings recorded in Brooklyn by Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu, They Might Be Giants). A string quartet led by Jean Cook (Waco Brothers, Ida) adds an unexpected flourish to 'Our Films, Their Films,' while Maimone also contributes tambourine and guitar.
For all its weighty subject matter, Faith & Credit is ultimately a vital, hook-filled rock record, driven by a cracking rhythm section, sharply executed guitars, memorable melodies, harmonies, and inventive textures. Fans of the dB's, Go-Betweens, and Verlaines will find plenty to latch onto, but The Human Hearts sound unmistakably like themselves, whether or not they're, as Bruno puts it, 'Still in Error.'
The Human Hearts Tour Dates
September 18: Brooklyn @ Property is Theft (w/John Davis of Folk Implosion)
October 3: Pittsburgh, PA @ Government Center (Monogahela Pop Festival)
November 8: Brooklyn @ Mama Tried (Record Release Show)
Faith & Credit Track List
1. Still in Error
2. A Different City for a Different Life
3. (Too Many) Illusions
4. Cover Your Tracks!
5. Faith and Credit
6. Sad and Afraid
7. Untimely Beggar
8. Our Films, Their Films
9. Guesthouse
10. Boring Postcards
11. The Old Currencies
12. Shovel-Ready
13. Enemies of Song
Photo Credit: Liz Clayton
Photo Credit: Liz Clayton
