Heartour releases R U In

If there’s one knock I have against Heartour’s new album R U In, it’s vocalist and songwriting Jason Young’s insistence on adding light post-production effects to his singing. His voice is more than capable of carrying the album’s ten songs without the questionable benefits of studio trickery. I understand his reasoning behind it, but it comes off as an useless affectation. It doesn’t mar the release in any irretrievable way however. Heartour’s fifth album has the strong whiff of inspiration surrounding its ten compositions as if Young entered the studio with a detailed idea of his ambitions for the collection and a clear path to pulling it off. It’s the first new Heartour album in more than a minute since Young has spent his recent history working with his other band project The Ruse and opening for mainstream giants Muse on three different world tours. He returns to Heartour with a fresh perspective and the exponential growth this album illustrates over Heartour’s previous efforts is notable.

MORE ABOUT HEARTOUR: https://heartour.com/

The opening tandem of “Brain” and “Refill the Fountain” kick the album off with an assertive sound and Young firmly at the wheel of it all. His mastery of electronic composition is apparent to anyone with ears; he knows how to blend the various threads of pre-programmed sound, synthesizers, sequencers, and keyboards into an impressive wall of sound without ever giving listeners more than can handle or obscuring his vocals. These two tracks signal his desire to get the audience’s attention straight out of the gate and he succeeds in a big way. They are relatively short tracks, never biting off any more than they can chew, and set a definite tone for the album’s remaining eight songs.

The synth fanfare opening “Dreams to Come” has a near anthemic quality and recurs during the track but the song soon settles into a slow yet inexorable crawl full of drama and enigmatic lyrical content. “As Far as We Go” improves on that with a stronger tempo and one of the best lyrics on R U In. it seems like it might be a song closer to Young’s heart than most due to the conviction fueling his vocal. The drum sound for this particular track is one of his most effective uses of pre-programmed percussion present on the album.

“Bubbling”, likewise, plays like a cut that’s especially personal for Young, but never uncomfortably so for the listener. The open-ended nature of his lyrical content allows listeners to interpret his musings as they wish rather than spelling out things in such a literal fashion that it foregoes any alternative point of view about its meaning. “The Persuadable One” will be a likely favorite for many listeners thanks to its edgy music and words and it’s enjoyable to hear Young take on the vocal chores with such obvious satisfaction. It’s a song he has no trouble getting behind.

The closing track “Baby Spiders” is, perhaps, the most sedate performance on this release and a fine way to end the album. It has more than a tinge of the introspective running through it and ends R U In on a graceful note rather than blasting us with a final time with muscular electronica. Heartour’s R U In is one of those rare albums that really does have something for everyone and even those who naturally gravitate away from electronic music will be impressed by what Jason Young accomplishes with these songs.

Samuel Pratt