With The Sounds Of Yesterday The Heavy Heavy Bring Us Home With Debut ‘Life and Life Only’

With a tenderness that transcends decades, The Heavy Heavy brings a power that manifests the sentiments of home–only home is a place visited in the haze of delirium. Established by polished musicians Will Turner and Georgia Fuller, the UK-based group have combined their admiration of the fringe with the philosophical reverb of The Rolling Stones meets The Mama’s & The Papa’s to create their deeply contrasted yet suitably incandescent debut, Life and Life Only.

Beginning as a cohesive mantra, The Heavy Heavy dove through their kaleidoscopic lens to find their footing in making records that meditate with their favorites. With a heavy dose of homage stirred with an experimental spoon, Life and Life Only tastes like a sweetly tranquil yet revolutionary serving of the Summer of Love.

Life and Life Only is a labyrinth best consumed from beginning to end. Like a favorite book or a tried and true vinyl, there’s something to be learned through it’s nostalgic order, and each track introduces a note to a new generation or refreshes the minds of those who already understand. Although not continual, instrumentally, it flows in chronology. Beginning in harsh-toned confusion that batters among a harmonious gleam there is “All My Dreams,” to which it finds its conclusive rolling credit submerged in the subtly of British pop in “Why Don’t You Call,” and the spaces in between rise and fall with an infectious delicacy that fabricates the instrumental storyline.

As Turner was a frequent of the hills, his instrumentals heard on the record were rooted in introspection. Regarding the space of meditation Turner said, “It’s famous for the healing qualities of its water, and there are ancient trees where the Druids used to worship—there’s a sort of magical-hippie aspect to it,” inevitably inching closer to the likes of Led Zeppelin‘s enchanted foundation and further from their heavy projection. While Turner set the tone, Fuller accented the zen with hypnotically bewitching vocals, strikingly similar to the soulful rasp of Janis Joplin, which were skillfully honed during her teenage years at Montreux Jazz Festival.

Following “All my dreams” is its flowery neighbor “Go Down River.” “I’d had this song a while and couldn’t quite finish it,” says Turner. “But then once Georgie added her vocals it all came together.” The conversational yet fourth-wall breaking male to female battle turns into a lush collaboration that feels like the absence of time. To which we hear a distinction between the vocals and wispy-riffs, illustrating the separation of humanity and nature– and in the end, cinematically, they join hands.

As the record builds, an intensity expands throughout the nuanced narrative, and “Man Of The Hills” excels in its ambiguous power. The third track to this euphoric excursion divorces itself from the tension building introduction and jumps straight to the pulse. It is groovy and heavy, an audacious tell-all of Turner’s mystical dream world in the hills of the Malvern. In a collision of instrumentals that escalate between each verse, “Man Of The Hills,” blurs the lines between folk-pop and blue-grass and highlights the potency of both genres.

In a tune leaning heavily on the vintage moxie of folk-pop, the fan favorite track “Miles And Miles” brings an expeditious power that collects the ferocity of “Man Of The Hills” and the solemnly soars of “Go Down River” to emit a drama-driven, tempo- rising, modern day jam-band groove. In a way, this track acts as a combination of all of their favorite artists and relays the jubilance of the 70’s while adding their own modern day spunk.

Careful not to succumb to transparency, The Heavy Heavy retracted the shackles of an isolating echo to exude their authenticity through unbound peculiarity and the dismantling of a records conception. By heeding both Turner and Fuller’s musical innovation, their lives in turn were immanent of their art– leading them to endless fields of ingenuity.

The tale end of this record renders an operatic-whisper on “Sleeping On Grassy Ground” that is elevated by the simple lyricism found on “Why Don’t You Call Me.” Pivoting away from their earthly power, these tracks are statically-innocent– as if heard throughout the thickness at The Whiskey A Go-GO, “Sleeping On Grassy Ground” and “Why Don’t You Call” furnishes the intimacy constructed between their muses. A tune in which Fuller’s spellbinding bellows shatter the earth below The Heavy Heavy’s enchantment.

Philosophically and geographically, The Heavy Heavy became what built them–and with that we hear a new age declaration of anthemic diligence. Amid thick buzzing, deeply cut guitar riffs subdued among a Doors-inspired techno-organ, there’s a somber balance among their lullabied vocals, and in turn we get a modern taste of the folk-pop arrangements of The Mamas & The Papas. With an eagerness towards solitude, The Heavy Heavy obtain a heroic build, where each track becomes stronger but the starting point was just as resilient.

They are beautifully constructed and adept in reinvention– a band that celebrates the influential effects of music and any chance to see them live would be like traveling back to the most tranquil of times. And good news, the hippie duo is spreading love near you soon. To check out this record in its purest form, visit here and listen to Life and Life Only here, now available on all streaming platforms!