Josiah Johnson, one of the founders of The Head and the Heart, describes his band as “strong willed.” When the Seattle-based band was on the cusp of a breakthrough, it was Pacific Northwest stalwart Sub Pop that gave them the freedom to be who they were and do things their way. The results speak for themselves.
The Head and the Heart trot into Toronto in support of their major label debut with some serious swagger as one of the buzziest bands in all the land. “When we were making the first record, we never had any idea. When we were ready to release an album, we made it and put it out there to see how people would react to it,” says Johnson.
“Folk music was starting to break and become a more mainstream thing, but also we were working very hard and were playing a lot of shows and had some success doing our own thing,” says Johnson. “When it was time to go find a label, we had this idea that we don’t really need help. We’ve already been doing it and our method seemed to be working.”
Shortly after forming in 2009, the band, Johnson along with Jonathan Russell, Charity Rose Thielen, Chris Zasche, Kenny Hensley and Tyler Williams, released their self-titled debut to great acclaim. The band played tirelessly and along the way added more members, and slowly but surely their sound came together.
“There was no pressure to form a band and play shows or anything like that,” says Johnson. “We didn’t just go, ‘OK you play an instrument, you’re cool, you’re in the band.’ We played with a ton of people. It actually adds a whole other dynamic. And when we recognize the right fit and chemistry, we get the right people involved in the band.”
Things fell into place, and the band signed their deal, their way.
“Sub Pop has been fantastic. There has been no pressure from anyone,” says Johnson. “It’s been really great. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes as the band gets bigger. I trust we’ll be as equally strong headed into the future as we are now.”
The band caught fire after one of the first album’s songs, “Rivers and Roads,” was featured in the season finale of the TV show Chuck, as well as an episode of How I Met Your Mother.
After touring the first record, the band went into the studio, writing and hammering out new material on the fly and, for the first time, really worked on the album as a full band with a number of members writing songs.
“We had a bunch of songs going in, but it wasn’t enough,” says Johnson. “So we had to come up with more ideas and worked on them. You know, we could have gone in with more songs, but the feel of some of the songs we wrote in studio were a lot more nuanced than songs from a practice space because writing those songs allowed us to do a lot more subtle things with the arrangements.”
The result, Let’s Be Still, is stunning.
The Head and the Heart plays Kool Haus on Mar. 30 with the inestimable Basia Bulat opening.