Some of you may recall from a previous feature on Folk Radio that Her Crooked Heart is the name under which multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, rock & roll choir director, sideman, and singer Rachel Ries now sails. Next month sees the release of her new album To Love To Leave To Live which features members of Bon Iver, Shane Leonard and string arrangements by the inimitable Rob Moose. The album is set for release on May 31st, followed by a June UK tour.
Check out her new video for album track Windswept which was conceived of by Hiponymous & Rachel (Hiponymous are a co-founded dance company based in Minneapolis, they also directed the video along with Guy Wagner). She tells us is all and only about meditation “…a practice I began in order to cope with depression and anxiety in these tumult years. The song begins with strange creaking textures, tones and drones that let you know you’re entering a different realm; a realm only found when you disembark from the hurtling, churning vessel of a mind. The song is an invitation to come to a stop and gaze out upon the strange/beautiful/peaceful terrain that’s always there – once you slow down and close your eyes long enough to see it. You don’t have forever so best dive in and learn from the terrain now. You already know why you’re here. One sneaky and nerdy thing about this song: the notes and melody of the first and final verses are exactly the same but by the time we reach the end we’re in a completely different key and time signature. The interplay and relationships have completely changed. So while it’s familiar territory, something at the base level is fundamentally altered for good. Get it?”
With To Love To Leave To Live, Minneapolis-based Her Crooked Heart presents a debut record unique in form, made up of cyclical narratives and intertwining histories, each informing the next. The result is a transformative song cycle, led by a charismatic personality, wholly indifferent to expectations of genre and instrumentation. Rachel Ries, the writer, multi-instrumentalist and producer behind Her Crooked Heart, demonstrates immense vulnerability and multifaceted musical craftsmanship to deliver a personal and profound musical soliloquy on love, leaving and the life that follows after burning it all down.
To bring these songs and this record to the stage (and to the UK for the first time with a full band) Ries has enlisted a powerful group of women; women who can, in their way, take on the feminine, humanist mantle of Her Crooked Heart and make it their own: Siri Undlin (Humbird), Adelyn Strei (Adro), Hilary James (We are the Willows, Bathtub Cig). The quartet blends classical and electric guitar; piano and vintage synths; cello, woodwinds and drum triggers. This merging of acoustic and synthetic sounds is all in service of the voice: four-part vocal harmonies that shift from ethereal to an elemental wail, always telling a story of transformation.
Her Crooked Heart UK & Ireland Tour Dates
Thursday 20th June – The Stables, Milton Keynes
Saturday 22nd June – Old Refreshment Room, Wrington
Sunday 23rd June – Green Note, London
Monday 24th June – The Greystones, Sheffield
Tuesday 25th June – The Cobblestone, Dublin IE
Wednesday 26th June – Roisin Dubh, Galway IE
Friday 28th June – Levis’, Ballydehob IE
Saturday 29th June – No Alibis, Belfast NI
Sunday 30th June – The Doublet, Glasgow
Tuesday 2nd July – The Leith Depot, Edinburgh
Thursday 4th July – The Old Forge, Cranford, Kettering
Friday 5th July – Hyde Tavern, Winchester
Monday 8th July The Hatch, Totnes
Find out more here: https://www.hercrookedheart.com/
https://hercrookedheart.bandcamp.com/
Photo Credit: Nate Ryan