Yet another exciting, under appreciated band from Seattle, since 1999 Your Heart Breaks has played worldwide with as few people as the driving force, Clyde Peterson, or sometimes with much larger ensembles. This time, Peterson steers the acoustic folk listen, but there’s plenty of appearances from members of The Moldy Peaches, Earth, Dear Nora and Little Wings, among others.
“Our Forbidden Country” starts the album with acoustic and ambient texturing that relies heavily on Peterson’s soft yet expressive vocals, and “Late Nights In The Lab” follows with agile rhythm and vivid storytelling about the misguided days of youth. Elsewhere, “Wanting To Stay” is a brief folk tune with a timeless spirt where backing vocals complement the beauty, while “Deceit And Deceive” brings an orchestral slant to a group effort of much grace.
The second half of the album brings surprises with the dance friendly “Somewhere In Between”, the moody keys and emotive “ The Party’s Over” and the pop influenced duet of “When Home Was A Blue Sky”, where an instant memorableness makes this one of the record’s best. The album ends on “Keep On Livin’”, where forthright lyrical matter addresses queer issues head on as the music finds a dreamy place to reside with a simple but very wise chorus.
A concept album based on the writings of various GLBTQI authors past and present, Peterson and company touch on many personal topics within gay culture, and while it’s often very upfront, it’s also poetic, sophisticated and delivered with much thoughtfulness.
