THE HUMAN HEARTS Release '(TOO MANY) ILLUSIONS' Single & Video

The Human Hearts are sharing their new single '(Too Many) Illusions' alongside an accompanying music video directed by Nancy Howell / The Mark of Nancy. The track is the latest preview of the band's anticipated new album, Faith & Credit, out November 13 on Dromedary Records.

'(Too Many) Illusions' debuted at Rock and Roll Globe and follows the release of the album's lead single 'Still In Error.'

The Human Hearts will celebrate the album's release with a hometown show on November 8 at Brooklyn's Mama Tried.

On the song & video, the band's Franklin Bruno shares:

'I wanted the 'Illusions' video to contrast with our previous one (for 'Still in Error'), which was made up almost entirely of footage of, well, me. So I tried to get out of the way this time, and asked The Mark of Nancy (the production team of Nancy Howell and Mark Lerner), who have worked with my friends Laura Cantrell and Jay Sherman-Godfrey, among others, to interpret the song in their own style. We emailed back and forth about various optical illusions and magic tricks, but basically I trusted them to run with it. Some sections illustrate the lyrics directly but cleverly – I love how they managed 'the road isn't wet in the summer' – and others take off from the general theme. Plus, stop-motion animation, or any kind of 'moving picture,' is a way of tricking the eye, so their technique was a perfect fit.

As for writing the song: besides the specific images, I was thinking about how much of our lives revolve around the effort to separate reality from fiction, whether it's the lies we're told by politicians and corporations, or a piece of film footage that might be AI. It's exhausting, and we all have our limits: when the narrator sings 'leave me/this one,' you're not supposed to be sure which illusion he can't live without. The music is harder to discuss: the chords and melody fit the world-weary mood, Pete Galub's jazzy solo comes earlier than you'd expect, and all the choruses are different lengths to keep the listener off-balance. In the studio, I was sheepish about telling Mitch Easter I wanted this song to be 'jangly,' but he just said, 'Well, if you want the J-word, let's get out the Vox amp, and the Rickenbacker.' So that's what we did; the piano, combo organ, and Matt Houser's percussion all came later. Lastly, our friend Annie Nero, a wonderful singer and bass player who tours with Craig Finn, overdubbed harmonies on the choruses, but during mixing, Mitch turned the same vocal tracks into a choir of angels – also a kind of illusion, but it makes the perfect introduction.'

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.'

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