Time and time again Philadelphia rockers Grayscale have proven that good things come to those who wait, and yesterday’s release of their fifth studio album ‘The Hart’ has proven to be no exception.
Coming four years after the band’s last full length album ‘Umbra,’ which debuted in August of 2021, Grayscale have been hard at work hitting the road on several tours, releasing new merch, and evidently getting in the studio to record some of the most brutally honest, raw and emotional tracks they’ve written to date.
While ‘The Hart’ came a bit after their last release, the band didn’t leave fans completely out to dry musically in the waiting period- releasing six of the album’s tracks as singles over the past year.
With tracks such as “Not Afraid To Die” and “Let Go” making their live debuts on recent tours and subsequent singles “Mum II,” “Summer Clothes,” “Kept Me Alive,” and most recently “Don’t Leave Me in the Dark,” rolling out over the past few months, the bad gave fans steady proof that this wouldn’t be an album to miss out on. And now with the six remaining tracks officially out for listening, they have only further solidified that fact.
For a band that is best known for their ability to create cinematic levels of storytelling through their releases, this album somehow manages to delve even deeper into the concepts of both life and art, as it revisits and analyzes both itself and its predecessors as facets of being human- both real and idealized.
Featuring themes of heartbreak, recovery, joy and forgiveness, ‘The Hart‘ is an album virtually all listeners will find themselves in. Whether it is via tracks such as the upbeat love song “Some Kind of Magic,” that will have listeners reliving a summertime romance with 80s nostalgia and vibrant electric guitars draped over it, or the opposing “Painting Over You,” which equally as powerfully documents the experience of losing love and moving on in a gut wrenching metaphoric way.
Or for listeners who are looking for a combination of those two moods, there is the catchy “Dance With Your Ghost,” which has the beat of a fun dance track but lyrics that describe the emotional turmoil that comes with trying to move on from someone (or something) that once brought you peace.
And those who may not be feeling a romantically tinged excitement or apathy, the album also hits home on heavier themes, revisiting topics of past Grayscale releases including the difficulty of navigating family dynamics, mental health, and addiction.
A call back to their 2017 release “Mum,” 2024’s “Mum II” navigates how growing up sometimes requires a reexamination of the past, and how finding forgiveness where you can may be necessary in order to move forward and heal- no matter how difficult or painful that may be in the process.
This concept is then continued through the sobering “Don’t Leave me In The Dark,” and yesterday’s release of “Talking In My Sleep,” which are two of the most open and raw releases Grayscale have written to date, tackling some of life’s greatest anxieties and fears head on.
Peeling back years of hidden grief, these songs document some of the most traumatic experiences a person can go through, such as familial mental health battles, suffering in silence, and death, while also acknowledging for the first time that the grief is there at all.
“[‘The Hart’] was written the first time in my life I really went through a mental health bout after some hard life experiences; there are songs from the beginning, middle, and end of that time,” vocalist and songwriter Collin Walsh shared of the album. “I was humbled in many ways in regards to what the term “mental health” meant. I think prior to my experience with it I perhaps lacked some empathy towards the subject. This record reminded me of why I love art and why art mattered to me in the first place.”
“There was nothing I really felt I could do to cope with what I was feeling except Buddhism and art. I hope it connects with you or makes you feel understood. That is the only reason I ever wanted to make music in the first place: for it to connect.”
At its core, ‘The Hart’ is an album about growing up, moving on, and finding time to heal through it all- and it may just be Grayscale’s best work yet.
This is a release we definitely will be holding through the landslide.
You can stream ‘The Hart’ now wherever you get your music, and be sure to keep up with all things Grayscale- including scoring tickets to their tour with Mayday Parade this spring- via the links below.
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